The Dark Mirror
by Barb1
Summary: Obi Wan faces a challenge unlike any before. One that tests his loyalties and his beliefs. Her name is Jessie. Star Wars mostly, with a little Firefly, Star Trek Voyager, Battlestar Galactica and Twilight.
1. Serenity

As she walked through the crowded spaceport, kicking up dust and observing the rampant poverty, the thought that if the inhabitants could only market the dirt that was abundant around her they would all be rich. She glanced at the ships as she passed. Nothing looked even mildly appealing and she ignored the barkers as they tried to lure her to their vessels.

"You look a right bit weary," a cheery voice said to her.

The fact that the voice was cheery was what drew the traveler to stop and glance at the girl that spoke. It was apparent that she was not faking her enthusiasm from the sincere smile she wore and the twinkling in her eyes. Her face and clothes were smudged and smelled of grease but they couldn't hide the attractiveness of the young woman.

"If you're looking for transport, our ship is the perfect spot to lift your feet. It is called Serenity after all."

The traveler glanced up at the ship the young woman stood before. It looked like an ugly bug squatting in the sand but she followed her inside. The ship looked like it was put together with spit but there was something attractive about it. It was obvious that the ship was loved. And not just by the young lady at her side still gushing about all of it's positive attributes. It wasn't just a ship; it was a home. And maybe because of that it reminded her of the _Falcon_.

"So will you be joining us," the young woman asked.

The traveler nodded slowly.

"Well I just knew you would," she confided enthusiastically. "I just had a sense about you."

She led her to a small room that contained a bed, a small sink, and what looked like a toilet that folded into the wall.

"It ain't much but I'm sure that you could spruce it up in no time." She stuck her hand out to her. "I'm Kaylee."

The traveler took her hand. "I'm Jessie."

Kaylee soon made her exit and Jessie sank onto the bed and let out a sigh of regret as she looked around her depressing surroundings. She thought her days of hopping suspicious transports were done. She set her bag down, and laid her head down on the thin pillow. It took only seconds before sleep claimed her and her dreams took her back to an entirely different time.

* * *

Obi Wan thought he was drowning. He couldn't say with any certainty which way was up nor could he breathe properly. He was tumbling head over heels and no matter how hard he reached out with the Force he couldn't stop the catastrophic freefall. It was as if there was nothing around him to hold onto.

And then, just as he was about to lose consciousness he and the small craft he occupied stopped spinning. Only not entirely at the same time. The ship jolted to a stop and Obi Wan lurched forward and hit the throttle. He was conscious just long enough to realize that he didn't recognize any of the star patterns around him anymore.

When he woke up again there was a balding man in a uniform that he didn't recognize, standing over him with a weapon of some kind. More disturbing than that was that Obi Wan could not sense anything about the man. It was as if he wasn't there at all.

Obi Wan threw his hand up to stop the man from getting any closer to him with the instrument in his hand and the man's arm froze. The balding man glanced at his arm and tried tugging it but to no avail. With a sigh the man inexplicably flickered out of existence. The instrument in his hand clattered to the ground. Obi Wan struggled to sit up but he felt as disoriented as he had in his ship. His head was not obeying the will of the rest of his body. He knew he had to gain control of himself. He took a deep cleansing breath and promptly choked on it when the man rematerialized in front of him. He gave his arm a shake to make sure it was in working order again and then he bent down to pick up the instrument he'd dropped.

Obi Wan threw his hand up again and once more the man froze.

"Well this is counter productive," the man said crossly. "Listen to me, I am a doctor. I can't help you if you won't let me. Now please disengage--whatever it is you are doing so I can treat you."

"You're a hologram," Obi Wan muttered.

"A hologram and a doctor. Now if you will--"

But Obi Wan shook his head. Unable to read the hologram's intentions, he wanted answers before he let the doctor anywhere near him. Even though the simple act of shaking his head made him want to throw up.

"Where am I," he demanded.

"It's called the Starship Voyager," a quiet, female voice answered.

Obi Wan turned toward the voice and found a young woman had entered the room. She was petite with dark eyes and dark hair. A thin braid went down one side of her face and as she walked toward him he noted how it swayed with each step that she took. He had never seen her before but there was something about her that was incredibly familiar.

"The doctor means you no harm. Please let him treat you." Her voice was calm but she was staring at him like a child who saw her very first alien life form.

"How did I get here," he asked hoarsely.

"I don't know," she said gently. She laid her hand on his forehead and eased him back onto the examination table. The minute her skin touched his he could feel the Force flowing through her almost as strongly as what he felt come from Anakin. "We found your ship floating in space." She tilted her head toward the doctor. "Release him so he can help you. You're badly injured."

He released the doctor, who grumbled as he finally got control of his arm again. He walked up to Obi Wan and placed the instrument somewhere on his neck. He heard a quiet whooshing sound and then his eyes started to go heavy. He could fight it if he really wanted to but he was trusting in what she said to him.

"Who are you," Obi Wan mumbled as he felt his body ease into oblivion.

"My name is Jessie," she said. "Who are you?"

"Obi Wan Kenobi--" he didn't finish his sentence as sleep took hold of him. Because of that he also missed the startled expression on Jessie's face as her jaw hinged open in disbelief.

* * *

Jessie ran the entire way back to her quarters. She could barely stand the wait it took for her door to open, let alone how long it took to type the message and send it. She tapped her nails on the side of the console while she waited for a reply. Then she stood up and paced. Normally she would be in awe at how a message like hers could travel as far as it was going (so far that even visual communiqués were impossible) but today she only silently cursed how slow they were.

Finally a reply scrolled across the screen: "Obi Wan? Obi Wan Kenobi?"

"That's what he said before he lost consciousness," she typed back.

"What does he look like?"

"He's much younger then you or Luke has ever described. Are there any images of him when he was in his thirties?"

"I've never seen one. And the Emperor was pretty thorough when he purged the records. I'll see if I can find something. You're sure he's a Jedi?"

"If the wardrobe is any indication." She paused. "And I just know."

"How did he get there?"

"We found him adrift in space. If there was a time space anomaly it's gone now or I'd sense it. What should I tell him?"

"As little as possible."

* * *

Author's note: I know, there's a lot to digest. I promise things will unveil in due time. Including who Jessie is. Usually I shy away from creating characters in fanfic and stick with established characters but I found her necessary in this instance.

As far as the timeline goes, it's just before Star Wars Episode III, before Serenity the movie and before Voyager finally got back to Earth.


	2. Sickbay

It was the middle of the night and only the night side personnel were on shift so Voyager's corridors were mostly empty. Jess had been in bed, staring at the ceiling until she finally crept barefoot down to sickbay.

She slipped in quietly and looked over the patient. Obi Wan Kenobi, Jedi Knight. She had never met him, only heard the story from Luke, Leia and Han. She felt it difficult to reconcile the tale of the old, white haired Jedi master to this vibrant younger man. His part in Luke's life had been so brief and yet so life changing it had elevated him to the status of a legend.

And here he was before her. So young, so alive, so normal and real. It was hard to believe they were the same. Especially considering the fact that Obi Wan Kenobi had been dead for nearly a decade.

She walked over to his clothes, hanging neatly at his bedside. She ran her fingers over the fabric. The doctor had obviously had the garments laundered and she was surprised at how soft they were. Since it was the only thing the Jedi ever wore she guessed it had to be made to be comfortable.

"They've seen better days."

She whirled around and saw Obi Wan looking at her, his blue eyes watching her avidly. "But then again, so have I."

"I--I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you," she stuttered. She was caught off guard by his casual tone, his humor. Somehow she expected him to start lecturing her about the Force or proper lightsaber etiquette.

"I sensed you when you entered. You're the one I saw when they brought me in here."

She nodded, still not trusting herself to speak.

"Where is here?"

_Shit_, she thought. He raised an eyebrow at her, as if he'd just read her mind. _Oh shit_, he heard that. _Oh, he probably heard that…._

She put her hand to her forehead and turned her back to him, as if that would block him from reading her thoughts. She didn't know of any Jedi that could actually read minds but some days she could swear that Luke could read hers. In any case, she wasn't going to take any chances.

"I didn't realize it was that difficult of a question," Obi Wan said.

"It's not--I just--I didn't expect you to be awake."

"Would it help if I pretended to go back to sleep--so you could have time to gather your thoughts?"

She rubbed her forehead.

"It might."

She turned back to him to find his eyes closed and his chest rising and falling. She'd seen Luke, under combat conditions, do the same thing. He'd trained his body to sleep under just about any circumstances. She leaned in closer to see if Obi Wan was actually sleeping when his eyes popped open again.

"Did I give you enough time?"

She reeled back and threw her hand over her mouth to stifle a scream. Obi Wan chuckled.

"Bastard," she muttered and she said it out loud to guarantee that he heard it.

"So you were going to tell me where I am," he asked, politely ignoring her.

"You're on the Starship Voyager."

"Voyager? I'm not familiar with it."

"I'd be surprised if you were."

"Why?"

"Because you're very far from home."

"Is there a reason you're talking in circles or do you just take perverse joy in aggravating me?"

"I'm beginning to, yes," she replied.

"Are you curious as to whom I am?"

"Not really. You're an open book. Your name is Obi Wan Kenobi. You're a Jedi Knight."

"I don't recall telling you that I was a Jedi."

"You didn't. As I said, open book."

He crossed his arms and stared at her.

"You need your rest. I'll come back in the morning," she said.

"Then why did you come here now? Torture?"

"I didn't expect to find you awake. I just came down here to--"

He raised an eyebrow again. She decided she hated that.

"To see if you were real."

"Real? As in flesh and bone real," he asked incredulously.

She put her hand on her forehead again and nodded. She really should have been more prepared, she decided.

"Why would you think I wasn't?"

"Because you're Obi Wan Kenobi," she said, exasperated.

"We've established that. You really did come down here to torture me didn't you?"

_Why didn't I just stay in bed?_ Suddenly she was exhausted.

"Before today you weren't real to me. Before today you were this mythical hero that my brother spoke of in reverent tones. He made you into such an icon that half the time I thought he made you up." She put her hands on her hips and continued: "After meeting you, I'm inclined to believe at the very least he exaggerated."

"I must have hit my head harder then I thought," Obi Wan mumbled, feeling his head. "Tell me, does any of this make sense to you?"

"Not really," she sighed and she sat down at the foot of his bed. "But it may help you to know that you've landed in the future."

"The future?"

She looked him over carefully.

"About forty years in your future I would say. When you met my brother a few years ago you were in your sixties."

Obi Wan mulled on that for a moment.

"Well that does clear a few things up," he said slowly.

"So you see why I can't tell you much more then that," she said. "I can't risk contaminating the timeline."

"Then why didn't you just tell me that in the first place?"

She shrugged. "Because I came down here to torture you."


	3. Dark Mirror

"So how does a Starship get lost?"

Jessie gave a start. While Obi Wan was looking out the window, studying the stars, she had been studying him. She told herself it was so she could send a detailed description of him back home to verify who he was. So she was taking note of his hair and his beard and his beautiful, beautiful eyes. Until he turned them toward her and asked his question.

"The same way a Jedi does," she said archly.

"Fair enough," he chuckled.

Jessie smiled.

"Actually, they were pulled to this end of the universe by a creature named the Caretaker. It's a long story but they ended up stranded here."

"They? You weren't with them?"

"No, once Starfleet figured out that they weren't destroyed as they first assumed they sent me to find them."

"And so you did."

"And so I did."

"And yet you and they are still lost."

"So it would seem."

" Good job."

"Thanks," she grumbled. The fact that she couldn't get Voyager home was actually a bone of contention with her. "I can actually sense rifts in the time space continuum, that's how I found Voyager. But so far the rifts I have sensed out here would actually shoot them closer to your end of the universe then there's. "

Obi Wan stroked his beard thoughtfully.

"I've heard of Jedi's past that had the ability you speak of but I've never known one in modern times."

Jessie stood up and cleared her throat.

"We should head back to sickbay," she said, hoping he wouldn't notice how desperately she wanted to change the subject. "The Doctor only authorized you for a short walk."

Obi Wan nodded and she helped him get back to his feet. From his careful movements to the slow way he was walking she knew he was injured far more then she realized that first night.

"So how did you end up here," she asked, as they made their way down the corridor.

"Anakin and I were in the Outer Rim territories when….Are you alright?"

Jessie didn't know what expression had come over her face but she was sure it wasn't a good one.

"I--it's just when you mentioned Anakin…" she stammered, unable to think of how to finish the sentence.

"Anakin is my padawan, do you know him?"

"No," she said quickly. "I mean, I've never met him but I know of him."

Obi Wan grinned.

"Well it's nice to know he'll be around for a long time. Some days I wonder."

Jessie hoped he didn't see her grimace.

"So you were coming back from the Outer Rim…." she prompted.

Obi Wan nodded. "Yes, we had just received word that Chancellor Palpatine had been kidnapped and we were heading back to Coruscant. I remember that some sort of anomaly opened up behind me and Anakin was yelling my name and I lost total control of my ship. The next thing I knew I was here." He stopped when he realized that Jessie was no longer by his side. He turned and found her standing as still as a statue in the middle of the corridor.

"Jessie?"

"I'm on duty," she stammered. "I'm supposed to be on duty."

She grabbed the arm of an ensign passing by.

"Please accompany our guest back to sickbay," she said and she didn't wait for an answer before she turned heel and practically ran in the other direction. She didn't stop until she got back to her quarters. Only when the door slid shut behind her did she allow the trembling to start. Her whole body shook until she slid to the floor. And no matter how tightly she clasped her arms around her, she couldn't make it stop.

* * *

"I can't do this," Jessie said, her voice muffled by the pillow over her face.

"Of course you can," came her sister's distinctive voice. Tired of typing her communications Jess had activated the voice controls on her computer and also filtered her sister's replies so she heard her words rather then had to read them. It was comforting to hear her voice, computer simulated as it may be. It also allowed her to maintain her self-pity prone position on the floor.

"You should have heard him," Jessie said. "He talked about Anakin and Palpatine," she almost choked on the name, "like they were nothing. Like they were just people instead of evil incarnate."

"They are just people. To him anyway. He has no idea."

"He's about to find out. If he and his _padawan_ are heading out to save the _chancellor _then things are going to start declining fast. They only have a few days, weeks maybe, before the monster takes over."

_Unless…_

"Don't even think about it."

Jessie threw the pillow off her face and sat up. She was long passed being surprised when her sister apparently read her mind.

"Why not?"

"Because no good will come of it. You know that better then anyone."

"No good will come of it," Jessie cried, standing up, starting to pace the room. "If I tell Obi Wan what is about to happen, if I make him believe it, he can stop it. There won't ever have to be an Emperor or a Darth Vader. We won't grow up in galaxy strangled by tyranny."

"And you won't grow up at all."

Jessie stopped short.

"That doesn't matter," she said.

"It matters to me," she replied. "And to Luke and Han. And you don't know what other things will be affected. What if he fails and Obi Wan is killed? What if Anakin never turns and Palpatine escapes and takes on a new apprentice, one Luke won't be able to sway back to the good side? What if the Emperor goes after Anakin years later? What if he goes after Luke and I when we're children? What if--"

"OK," Jessie cried in frustration. "Fine. You've obviously given this some thought."

"I've thought of nothing else since you told me Obi Wan was there."

Jessie smiled.

"You're right," she sighed. "I won't tell him anything. But what _am_ I supposed to talk to him about?"

"Personally, _I'd_ like to hear about Anakin. And Padme. I'd like to know what my parents were like. Personally, I'd kill to be where you are."

Jessie closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I never thought of it that way."

"You never do, that's why I am here to remind you."

Jessie walked over and picked up the picture on her bedside table. It was of she and Luke and Leia. Anyone who didn't know them wouldn't be able to tell Jessie and Leia apart in the picture. It wasn't until you met them could you tell how different they were.

"That's why I'm the dark mirror," Jessie whispered.


	4. Paris

When the doors to sickbay opened, music poured out into the corridor like a tidal wave. It wasn't completely unexpected since the doctor liked to sing arias while he worked. What was dumbfounding to Jessie was that there were two voices. She carefully stepped into the room, eyes wide in disbelief. The Doctor was examining some of his medical instruments in the corner and bursting into robust song along with the music he had pumping into the room. And lying on his bed, his eyes shut and his hands folded over his chest, Obi Wan was singing, not as loudly, right along with him.

Jessie backed out of the room and let the door shut. She stood staring at the door, wondering if she had indeed just seen what she thought she had. She paused a moment and decided that if she was hallucinating perhaps sickbay was where she really should be. So she walked back in.

The scene was exactly as she left it. Only now Obi Wan's eyes were open and he was looking at her when she entered. The Doctor noticed her then and asked the computer to turn off the music.

"Well hello Lieutenant," the Doctor greeted cheerfully. "Care to join in? You have a beautiful voice in your own right."

"No thank you, Doctor, I've just come to see how your patient is doing."

"Really? How unexpected."

Jessie ignored the jibe and walked over to Obi Wan's bed.

"You seem surprised to see me," he said.

"To see you? No. To hear you, yes. A singing Jedi seems--surreal."

"Really? Well the Doctor enjoys singing while he works and since my only connection to the world abandoned me he has taken to instructing me in the long hours we've spent together."

"I did not abandon you," she said, shifting uncomfortably. "It's only been a few days. I've been very busy with my duties." _And terrified to speak to you again._ "But I've checked in with the doctor everyday. And I understand you've had a few visitors."

"True, the Captain came and introduced herself to me. And a strange little creature came in and questioned me at length about my eating preferences."

"Yes, Neelix told me that you have the palate of a dung beetle and he was going to introduce you to some food with actual taste."

"Yes, unfortunately he's already tried." He waved his hand toward a tray still covered with a majority of it's multicolored contents.

Jess smiled and offered Obi Wan her hand.

"Well the Doctor has cleared you for a field trip."

"A field trip?"

"I thought you might like to try and make it to the docking bay so you could take a look at your ship."

Obi Wan took her hand eagerly.

"Yes, I've been wanting to assess the damage."

"Well Tom has been tinkering with it a bit."

Obi Wan stopped short.

"What is a tom and why is it touching my ship?"

Jess laughed.

"Tom is our comm officer but he has a fascination with different ships. He and B'Elanna, our chief engineer, have been poking around it since you got here."

They made their way slowly out of sickbay and into the corridor.

"May I ask you a question," Obi Wan said.

"You can ask."

"Why do you wear that uniform?"

Jessie looked down at her Starfleet uniform blankly.

"Because they don't allow me to be naked," she replied.

"And the Doctor referred to you as Lieutenant and you said _our _comm officer and _our _chief engineer. Are you an actual member of Starfleet? You take orders from the captain?"

"Most of the time," she said with a small smile.

"How is that possible? Jedi's only serve the Order and the Senate."

Jessie shifted uncomfortably. They reached the turbolift and she took the time it took to enter to try and think of something plausible. Nothing came to mind.

"My brother sent me to Starfleet, he thought I needed more discipline."

"_More _discipline then the Jedi Order?"

"I have lots of issues."

"Unquestionably."

She glared at him.

"We're getting into territory that I shouldn't be discussing," she said.

"I think we're getting into territory you don't want to be discussing."

"In either case if I don't discuss it then you are going to stand there and have a one-way conversation."

"I thought I already was."

They rode the rest of the way in a hostile silence.

"Well," Obi Wan finally said, "we can't discuss where we are, when we are, or who you are. Shall we discuss the weather?"

"It's cold and dark outside," she grumbled. "We're in the middle of space."

The turbolift doors opened none too soon and they walked out into the docking bay.

Obi Wan's ship was resting in the middle of the floor, looking even more battered then he felt. A male officer, who Obi Wan assumed was "Tom", was underneath it banging on something. A female officer was standing next to the ship talking to him.

"Don't you think that you should find out what it does before you rip it off," she was asking.

"That sounds like sound advice to me," Obi Wan agreed, bending down to see what it was Tom was irreparably damaging.

Tom climbed out from under the ship with a slightly embarrassed grin on his face. "Hi," he said, "I'm Tom Paris. This ship is fantastic."

"Well, " Obi Wan replied, frowning at the underside of his ship. "It was."

Jessie sighed. "Tom, B'Elanna, this is Obi Wan Kenobi, Jedi Master, and pain in the--"

"Nice to meet you," B'Elanna quickly interjected, offering him her hand to shake.

Obi Wan shook her hand and tried to assess B'Elanna's origins. She looked mostly human except for the ridges on her forehead. He assumed she was a mixture of at least two races but he wasn't familiar with the other.

"Don't worry about your ship," she continued." I've kept Tom from doing any serious damage."

She started asking him about his ship and it's capabilities and Obi Wan was only too happy to talk with someone with whom he could have a complete conversation. It seemed that no matter what subject he and Jessie broached it ended with her shutting down. He hadn't even yet asked her why she had had such a strong reaction to their last conversation. As she stood paralyzed in the corridor that day he could feel the fear emanating off of her. He replayed the conversation they were having in his mind a hundred times and couldn't imagine why.

He glanced over at her as she stood to the side, talking with Tom. He couldn't hear what they were saying but from her disgruntled expression he assumed they were talking about him. Whatever she was saying seemed to amuse Tom to no end. He laughingly said something to her and she punched him in the gut. He bent over, his hands over his stomach, but he continued to laugh.

After that, for reasons Obi Wan couldn't explain, he started watching them even more closely. Over the next few days, when he would hobble down to the docking bay, he found himself always looking over at the two of them to see what they were doing. Aside from what he considered a relationship too casual for fellow officers he could find nothing wrong. And then at one point Tom laid his hand on the small of Jessie's back while he was pointing something out to her. It was a small gesture, one that neither seemed to even notice and one Obi Wan couldn't get out of his mind.

That evening he was still thinking of it when he sat down to dinner with B'Elanna and Jessie in the crew dining room.

"Can I ask you a question," he asked slowly.

Jessie smiled at him and replied: "My life is an open book."

"Except for anything in your past," B'Elanna said, pointing her fork at Jess.

"True," Jessie agreed, stabbing a piece of lettuce. "And nothing about your future."

"And not too much about your present," B'Elanna clarified.

The two women laughed but Obi Wan didn't seem to notice. He looked at Jessie and asked: "Have you been intimated with Tom Paris?"

The fork slipped out of Jessie's hand and hit the plate with a mild thud. B'Elanna started choking but her wide eyes shifted over to Jessie.

"I'm sorry," Jessie asked. "What?"

"Have you had sex with Tom Paris?"


	5. The Elephant

Jessie's mouth was moving but no words were coming out. There were a number of tart things that she wanted to say but she bit them back. Obi Wan seemed so earnest in wanting an answer and B'Elanna, trying desperately not to choke to death, probably wanted to hear the answer even more, considering _she_ was currently having sex with Tom Paris.

"Not recently," she found herself saying.

"And what about your oath of chastity?"

Having finally caught her breath, B'Elanna started choking anew. However, Jessie was fairly certain this time it was because she was laughing ridiculously hard.

"My what?"

Obi Wan leaned back in his chair, thunderstruck.

"The Order couldn't possibly have changed that much!"

Jessie shook her head in disbelief.

"Oh you'd be surprised." Then she turned toward her friend. "B'Elanna, dear, do you need me to do the Heimlich?"

B'Elanna slapped a hand over her mouth and shook her head. She pushed her chair back and stood up, trying to regain her composure now that half the room was looking at their table.

"I should go," she insisted. "You have a lot of explaining to do." She chuckled. "_A lot_, if I'm not mistaken."

"So no workout today," Jessie asked hopefully.

"Of course we're going to workout," she replied, picking up her dinner tray. "I'm thinking I'm going to have a lot of aggression to get out."

Jessie groaned.

"I hope you're happy," she mumbled to Obi Wan.

"More like mystified," he replied, still pondering the omission.

Jessie made a growling sound, stood up and marched out of the room.

* * *

Obi Wan was still in deep thought over the startling revelation as he walked back to sickbay. He realized a few things may have changed in the thirty or forty years between when he left and the time he found himself in today but the rules and laws of the Jedi Order had been in place for hundreds of years. To find a minor change would be amazing really, but to find a change so monumental was astounding.

He knew she would probably refuse to speak to him about it but he had to talk to Jessie about it. Unfortunately he didn't know how to find her. His familiarity with Voyager was still minimal and he didn't even know where her quarters were. He had decided to return to sickbay and enlist the Doctor's help when a tall, rather stunning woman, walked toward him. She had a few cybernetic implants on her face that he wondered about.

"Can I help you Master Kenobi," she asked in a rather formal matter. "You look confused."

"Please, it's Obi Wan, and yes, I'm looking for Jessie. Do you know where I can find her?"

She tapped the badge on her chest.

"Computer, can you tell me the location of Lieutenant Thorton?"

"Lieutenant Thorton is in Holodeck two," the serene computer voice replied.

"Do you need assistance reaching Holodeck two?" The woman asked.

"No, I think I can find it. Thank you--"

"I am Seven of Nine, and you are welcome."

Obi Wan knew there was a story there that he was sure to find fascinating but he was intent on finding Jessie and getting some answers so he went in search of the holodeck.

He tracked it down a few minutes later and walked inside. Considering the ship's doctor was a hologram he was curious to see what a holodeck was. But he could not have expected what he found at all.

As he entered the room he found himself in an arena. He glanced up and he could see concrete seating all around him and above, a red sky. Everything from the temperature to the foreign aromas in the air told his senses that he was no longer on the ship but on some faraway planet.

And Jessie and B'Elanna were in the middle of the arena trying to aggressively kill one another. They were each fighting with an arched, two handled blade that would spark each time the women clashed them together.

Obi Wan stood back, watching as the two women sparred. B'Elanna seemed to be the more aggressive of the two, making more offensive moves while Jessie stood her ground, trying not to get pushed back by her friend's onslaught. Obi Wan noted that Jessie was a very graceful fighter, making turns and calculated swings with her blade but she didn't appear to be using any of her Jedi powers.

Without them, the two women seemed evenly matched. He wondered who would win until B'Elanna finally took an opening and swept her leg under Jessie's legs, sending her down on her backside and jarring the blade from her hand. Jess didn't even bother to get up. She just laid on the floor, panting, while B'Elanna pointed the blade at her throat.

"Are we good," Jessie asked.

B'Elanna considered it and then stepped back and nodded.

"I think so," she replied. Then she leaned down and helped Jessie off the floor.

They both noticed Obi Wan at the same time.

"Very impressive," he remarked.

"Glad you approve," Jessie replied, running a hand through her rumpled hair.

"Well," B'Elanna said, "if you'll excuse me, I need a shower."

Jessie nodded and looked around for her towel.

"I take it that was the workout you mentioned earlier," Obi Wan observed.

"It certainly was," she mumbled, picking up her towel and wiping the sweat off her face with it. "Thanks to you I got my ass kicked."

"I'm sorry?"

"It's one thing to know about your boyfriend's sordid past, it's another thing entirely to have it validated. Over dinner no less."

"Am I the only one that needs an interpreter when they talk to you?"

Jessie shook her head and sat down on a stone bench.

"When I first came aboard Tom and I became friends."

"And by friends you mean lovers?"

"Yes. And B'Elanna and I became friends. And by friends I mean friends. And rivals. She was in love with Tom, although I didn't know it at the time. And neither did Tom. So B'Elanna and I stared working out together, practicing different fighting techniques. It took the aggression out of our competition over Tom."

"And now she is with him?"

"She is."

"Then why did she just, how did you put it--kick your ass?"

"Because you asked if I'd had sex with Tom Paris."

"And that upset her?"

"I would think so, yes."

"But she knew the two of you were together before, what changed?"

"You mentioned the elephant in the middle of the room and now she can see it."

"What is an elephant?'

Jessie laughed in spite of herself. She threw her towel over her shoulder and started walking toward the exit.

"She knew and I knew that Tom and I had a fling but we ignored it until you brought it out into the open. Now she has to acknowledge it and metaphorically rip my hair out because that's what girls do."

Obi Wan pondered that but still didn't really understand it.

"Is that why you let her win," he asked.

Jessie paused. "Yes."

"Computer, end simulation," she said as she walked out of the room.

Obi Wan watched as the landscape shimmered around him and then vanished, leaving an empty room with a grid of yellow lines. He looked around in amazement and then realized that he'd never asked Jessie his questions. When he went out into the hall she was already gone.

* * *

"Can I ask you a question," Obi Wan asked.

"No," Jessie replied as she stopped in front of a door that looked exactly the same as the dozen or so that they'd already passed. The door slid open and she walked inside. He followed her in and found himself in someone's quarters.

"Whose room is this," he asked.

"Yours," she replied. "Captain Janeway thought you'd be more comfortable in some guest quarters rather then in sickbay."

He nodded and looked around. Jessie immediately felt his distress.

"What's wrong?"

"These quarters are acceptable," he replied.

"But--"

"I just didn't expect to be here this long. When I left, the Republic was in turmoil. The Chancellor had been kidnapped. I was recuperating so that I could return to where I was needed. Now I'm well enough to return and--"

"And you're stuck here."

"Do you know what is really maddening about the whole thing? I don't know what is happening in my absence but you do. You know how everything turns out."

Jessie felt her throat restrict. She could tell him how it turned out. She could stop the destruction of the Senate and the Jedi Order by simply telling him how it turns out….

She turned her back on him so he wouldn't see the tears gathering in her eyes.

"It sounds like you need to work out some aggression."

"I don't have aggression," he replied, petulantly. "I'm a Jedi."

She smiled at that.

"Then perhaps a training session, to get back into fighting form. Meet me in the holodeck in an hour?"

She turned back to him and he nodded.

"That would be--acceptable," he agreed.

"Okay," she replied, a little puzzled by his hesitation.

She left his room and returned to her own.

_Maybe he senses something. _But she shook her head. _How could he?_

She went to the nightstand at the side of her bed and knelt down in front of it. She pulled open the bottom drawer and pulled out a cylinder shaped object she'd carefully wrapped in silk. She pulled apart the fabric and looked at the lightsaber cradled inside. Like the first day that Luke had handed it to her she felt her pulse quicken with excitement. She couldn't remember the last time she'd looked at it. She hadn't dared.


	6. Duel

"A Jedi shall not know anger," Obi Wan said as he made an aggressive swing of his lightsaber at Jessie's head. She deflected it and backflipped away from him.

"Nor hatred," he continued, doing a forward flip to catch up with her. She struck out with her lightsaber and he deflected it with a flick of his wrist.

"Nor love," he said as their lightsabers locked between them and their faces stood inches apart.

"Then the Jedi Order expects you to shed your humanity completely," she asked, pushing away from him.

"Of course not," he said, following her as she fled into the holo-simulated forest behind them. "They merely expect you to master your baser instincts."

He looked around the tree lined clearing and could not see where she had vanished. He took the spare moment to shrug off his robe.

"Love is a baser instinct?"

He looked up and she was standing on the limb of a very high tree. She was dressed all in black and looked like a predatory bird zeroing in on him.

"Love is a distraction," he said, glancing around. He saw a branch he knew would hold his weight and he leaped to it. "It takes away from focusing on what is essential."

"And what is more essential then someone you love," she asked, leaping away from her perch just as Obi Wan reached it.

"Exactly my point," he said, launching himself onto the branch she now stood upon. "There should never be one who becomes more important then the many."

"If not the one," she said, lifting her purple glowing blade in front of her. "Then why even bother with the many?"

The branch lurched beneath them and they both jumped off in different directions as it splintered and broke off.

Obi Wan landed and turned quickly to face her but again she was gone. He looked above him but did not see her in the trees.

"And love and sex are not the same," she said. He turned toward where her voice was coming from but still couldn't see her. "So why should sex not be allowed?"

Crouching, he carefully approached where he thought her position was.

"Because that _is _a baser instinct."

"It can be," she agreed, from behind him. "If you do it right."

He saw the arch of color and watched as the lightsaber cartwheeled over him and sliced off several branches above his head. He dived out of the way but not fast enough. Large chunks of foliage caught his feet and sent him spiraling to the ground. He was struggling to get free when she landed in front of him.

"You don't fight very fair, do you," he grunted.

"I fight to win," she replied, extending her arm to bring her lightsaber back to her hand. She caught it just as Obi Wan extended his hand and pushed her over a grove of bushes behind her. He thought he heard a splash as he finally freed himself. He reached his feet and sprinted after her, trying to catch her off guard.

He launched himself over the bushes and managed to pull himself back before going headfirst into the lake on the other side. The water was still rippling but he couldn't see where Jessie had gone. He carefully began to circle the perimeter of the lake, keeping his eyes on the water. He could sense her nearby. She was easy to detect. It was like her entire essence was singing. The pure joy she was experiencing was emanating from--behind him.

He turned just in time to catch a face full of seaweed. He was clawing it away when a jagged tree branch caught him in the abdomen. He managed to grab it and yank it with him as he fell backwards into the lake. He crashed into the water and she splashed down next to him two seconds later. When he finally managed to yank the clump of seaweed off his face he saw her swimming away from him. He reached out and grabbed one of her ankles. She started kicking at him with her other leg but he grabbed that one as well and started dragging her toward him. He pulled her up against him and secured his arm around her waist and started kicking toward the surface. She was trying to break free and her struggling body sliding against him sent unexpected shivers down his spine.

She waited until they surfaced before she dug her nails into his arm and flung her head back to connect squarely with his nose. He let go of her with a cry of pain and she started half running, half wading, toward shore.

She climbed onto the muddy shore, and turned around to face him, her lightsaber hilt in her hand. She clicked it on only to hear a slight sizzling sound and nothing more.

"Crap," she mumbled, just as Obi Wan caught her in a football tackle. With a cry of dismay she landed in the mud with the Jedi Master on top of her. He pinned her hands above her head as water from his hair and robes streamed down on her.

"Very gallant of you," she said, gasping for air from being underwater and from the Jedi now straddling her. With his clothes now completely saturated he was probably twice as heavy as usual.

"I fight to win," he replied, looking down at her with a grin. "Do you yield?"

She made one last attempt to break free, arching her back, kicking her legs, but then she collapsed in exhaustion.

"I'll take that as a yes," he said, and he regretfully rolled over and collapsed next to her.

They laid in the mud both trying to catch their breath.

"So," Jessie said, still panting, "you've never experienced love. What about anger?"

She lifted up his arm and looked at the blood seeping from where she scratched him.

"I've experienced anger," he said, watching her fingers graze his arm. "But I don't act upon it."

"So you didn't tackle me because I did this," she asked.

"No."

"Then why did you?"

"Because I didn't want you to escape again," he lied.

"You would have caught me eventually."

"I don't know, you seem to have a talent for disappearing."

"I have lots of talents," she said before she could stop herself.

She wanted to slap her hand across her mouth. Instead she rolled away from him and climbed to her feet. She was mortified that she had just caught herself flirting with Obi Wan Kenobi. He was a legend. It was like flirting with a priest.

Behind her he stood up and cleared his throat.

"Um, yes, you do."

She turned around and looked at him in surprise.

"Your fighting techniques," he clarified quickly. "I've never seen anyone switch between so many different styles."

"I grew up in a lot of different places," she said, looking down at her lightsaber so she wouldn't have to look at him. "I learned whatever I could from who ever would teach me."

The lightsaber still wouldn't turn on and she gave it a shake.

"It's because you got it wet," he said and his hands closed around hers for a moment as he pulled it from her hands. A shiver ran down her entire body and she prayed he didn't feel it. He didn't seem to as he fiddled with the hilt. _He's Obi Wan Kenobi_, her mind cried again.

"Can I call you something else," she asked suddenly.

He lifted an eyebrow at her. She decided she loved that.

"Do you mean something other then my name?"

She nodded. "It just seems so--formal."

"I suppose," he said, still looking puzzled. "What do you suggest?"

She thought about it a moment and then she smiled and tilted her head to the side.

"How about Ben?"


	7. A Mirrored Perspective

"So why "Ben"," Tom Paris asked as he shuffled the deck of cards.

Obi Wan shrugged.

"Ask the lieutenant," he replied, pulling his cards off the table to look at them.

"I couldn't really say," Jess replied, studying her cards.

"Seriously?" B'Elanna said. "Now you can't even discuss why you picked a random name out of the ether?"

"I could if it was random," Jessie replied, unruffled.

"OK," Tom chuckled, "Now you're just messing with us. Are you saying that there is such significance to the name Ben that if you tell us why, it will throw the space time continuum out of alignment?"

"Could be," Jessie replied. "I once left a place and a pilot named Starbuck was a guy when I left and a woman when I returned. Do you really want to chance that Tom?"

No one could quite tell if she was kidding or not.

"And what was wrong with the name Obi Wan," Harry Kim asked.

"I think it's a lovely name," Neelix said. "Very noble."

Jessie looked over her cards at Ben and grinned. He smiled back at her. While the other card players at the table discussed the merits of his name Ben concentrated on Jessie. His entire body still ached from their holodeck training session the day before. But it was a good ache. It reminded him of every exhilarating moment. He told himself that it was because she wasn't like anyone he'd ever trained with. She was a surprising challenge. It had absolutely nothing to do with how she felt underneath him when he had her pinned to the ground or the way her clothes clung to her like a second skin when she was wet. Or the way her entire body trembled when his hands touched hers, even for the briefest of moments.

He didn't know why she wanted to call him Ben. He just knew that she seemed more relaxed when she did.

"It's your turn Master Kenobi," Neelix said politely.

Ben was jarred from his thoughts. He hadn't even really seen the cards he'd been supposedly studying.

"Um, fold," he said. "And please, it's--" he sighed. "It's whatever you want to call me I suppose."

The whole table chuckled.

"For a great Jedi master," Tom said, throwing his bet into the pot. "You really stink at poker."

"It's hard to learn when you each call the cards by a different name. Is it clovers or dog paws? Why is a one eyed jack different from a two eyed jack?"

"I had the same difficulty when the crew first taught me the game," Neelix said. "It is simply a matter of--"

But Tom laid a hand on his arm and stopped him from continuing. He pointed to Jessie. She had lifted a finger in the air as if to silence them. Immediately the atmosphere in the room charged. Her eyes were still open but she didn't appear to see anyone any more. Ben was the only one that didn't seem to understand what was going on but he was the only one that could feel the surge of the Force suddenly pour out of her.

Then Jessie started saying numbers. Tom scrambled for his padd and started inputting them.

"Is it close," B'Elanna asked as she looked over his shoulder.

Tom's head started bobbing eagerly.

"I think so."

"Are those coordinates," Ben asked.

"Yes they are," Tom said, jumping to his feet. "Hopefully the coordinates home."

* * *

"We are almost to the location that Lieutenant Thorton has provided for us. According to the long range scans it looks like a rather large anomaly," Captain Janeway said to the command crew and Obi Wan gathered around the conference table. "We will follow standard protocol and Lieutenant Thorton will take her ship in alone and report back to us her findings." She turned and faced Obi Wan. "I understand, Master Kenobi, that you wish to accompany her?"

"Yes, Captain. I understand that it is standard for Lieutenant Thorton to proceed alone because she is more accustomed to the irregularities of time travel but since I share her capabilities I think I am well suited to join her."

"Lieutenant, any objections?"

Jessie glanced at Ben. She could sense how eager he was to go with her. She assumed it because he was hoping it would take him home. It disappointed her but she looked at the Captain and replied: "Not at all."

"Then you leave as soon as we arrive at the location."

* * *

Ben sat on the floor of his quarters, breathing slowly, trying to gather his thoughts. He often tried to meditate before embarking on a mission but today he was having trouble focusing. He was eager to get home. He knew he was needed there. The Chancellor's kidnapping was one of the many signs that the galaxy was sliding into chaos. And yet, he found himself regretful that when he passed through the anomaly he might actually find himself home.

_It is because you have developed an affection for the Voyager crew and their plight,_ he told himself. _You are hoping that it is instead a way for them to get home. Yes, you have developed an affection for the __crew__. All of them. Not one in particular. _

He shook his head and tried to focus. He cleared all of his thoughts and let the Force flow through him. He could feel it vibrating under his skin. Which is unlike it ever felt before. It felt familiar and foreign at the same time.

And then he could see her. Behind his closed eyelids, he could see Jessie.

She was in her quarters, standing in front of a mirror, rubbing her shoulders, her head tilted, her eyes closed. She looked sad and again he felt the pang of recognition that he had when he first saw her. She was singing quietly to herself and as the doctor said, she had a beautiful voice.

"How I wish you could see the potential. The potential of you and me. It's like a book elegantly bound but in a language that you can't read just yet."

Ben's heart started pounding in his chest.

She opened her eyes, sighed, and started intricately braiding her hair. Her fingers dipping in and out of the chocolate strands with well-practiced ease.

"You've gotta spend some time, love. You've gotta spend some time with me. And I know that you'll find, love, I will posses your heart."

She looked at herself in the mirror, merely assessing if she had done a proficient job, not appreciating, as Ben did, how beautiful she looked.

"There are days when outside your window, I see my reflection as I slowly pass, then I long for this mirrored perspective when we'll be lovers, lovers at last."

Ben's eyes snapped opened and he gasped for air, suddenly realizing that he had been holding his breath the entire time. He didn't know what had just happened. He didn't know if it had been a dream or if Jessie really was in her quarters, getting ready for their mission. If it was real why had he seen it? Why was he connected so strongly to her?

A small jingle from the ship's comm system startled him and then the Captain's voice followed: "Attention, crew, we have reached the time anomaly."

Ben was grateful for the distraction. He gathered his things and headed down to the docking bay.

* * *

Jessie was waiting for him by her ship, a shuttle sized craft specially equipped for her. She was talking to Tom and Harry when he approached her from behind. When she turned, he saw that her hair was braided down each side and tied together carefully in the back. Just as he's seen her do it.

"Are you alright," Jessie asked, a few minutes later, as her ship cleared Voyager and they headed toward the anomaly.

"Of course," he replied, studying the ship's controls with false interest. "Why do you ask?"

"Because you seem--distracted."

"I'm just anxious to see if this will take me back," he said, waving at the fold in space before them that was growing larger as they approached.

She gave a curt nod. It was just as she had guessed, he was eager to get home, and for some reason that made her angry.

Ben looked over at her as she jabbed at the navigational computer. He could sense that she was upset about something.

"It's stable," she said matter-of-factly. "It's not going to collapse on us in the foreseeable future. There should be no problem getting you back to your mission."

He could almost visualize the note of discord in the air between them.

"Good," he mumbled.

"Great," she replied.

Jessie busied herself with the controls. Going over systems and coordinates she'd already looked over. The rift grew larger in the windshield and she felt her disappointment swelling. It took her a moment to realize that the feeling wasn't emanating from her. She flicked her head in Ben's direction.

"Why are you disappointed?"

He gave a start and met her eyes for the first time since they climbed in the ship.

"Why do you think I am?"

"I--I can feel it."

"You can feel it," he repeated. The uncomfortable realization that not only could he sense her on an intimate level but she could sense him in the same way seeped inside his chest.

"What does that mean," she asked.

But before he could answer, the ship gave a sickening lurch. They'd entered the rift without realizing it.

"Hold on," Jessie said and she made adjustments on the computer. The ship vibrated around them as it passed through the anomaly. A moment later they came out the other side into a field of stars. "I'm running the star patters around us through the computer to see if they match any in my database."

She punched in information and a few seconds later the computer chimed that it had an answer.

"Where are we," Ben asked.

Jessie shook her head. "Oh, crap."

At the same time and alarm went off. Ben looked down at the reading.

"It's a proximity alarm. Someone--"

But the blast to the hull cut him off.


	8. Crashdown

When Jessie awoke pain exploded like matching stars behind her eyes. She groaned loudly and forced herself to sit up, despite the splash of nausea the action caused her. It took her a moment to focus and she found herself on the floor of her shuttle. The hatch door was open and she groaned again.

"That can't be good," she mumbled as she tried to stagger to her feet.

Then she heard rushing footsteps and Ben was standing in the hatchway, concern etched all over his face.

"Oh good," Jessie said. "You weren't sucked into space."

Ben knelt down in front of her and put his hands on both sides of her face. They were pleasantly warm.

"No, I waited until after we crashed before I opened the hatch," he said, as he looked carefully into her eyes. "You hit the console. You might have a concussion."

"I knew I wasn't dead. Dead doesn't hurt this much."

She felt one of his thumbs moving back and forth on her cheek. She wished she could enjoy the sensation but she was trying too hard to not throw up in his lap.

"Where are we," she asked.

"I was hoping you could tell me. You seemed to identify the system we were in right before we were attacked."

And the memory washed over her like icy water. She pushed away from Ben and struggled to her feet.

"I don't think you should be getting up yet," he protested and the lurch in her stomach agreed with him but she forced it down. She got unsteadily to her feet and staggered over to the navigational computer. "The computer is down. Everything is down. I was outside trying to fix it."

Jessie hit the console with her fist.

"Damn," then she turned to Ben and ignored how dizzy it made her feel." The ship that attacked us--what did it look like?"

"A single person vehicle. Technology I wasn't familiar with. Three engines in the back, kinetic energy weapons…"

Jessie pushed her palms into her eyes and laughed bitterly.

"A Viper."

Ben was puzzled by her reaction but he was getting used to not knowing what she was talking about half the time.

"A lot of them," he said. "I managed to shake off most of them but there was one that seemed determined to blast us into molecules. He followed us long after I'd lost the others."

"She," Jessie said. "She followed us."

Ben took Jessie's hands and guided her to sit down in the broken navigator's seat. She looked like she was about to fall down.

"Then you know who they were?"

"I was hoping it was the Cylons," she whispered. "Cylons, I can handle."

"Who were they?"

"Friends of mine," she said with another demented laugh. "The good guys."

She sank into the chair in a puddle of misery. Ben didn't ask any more questions and instead retrieved the med kit and started digging through it.

"How did you fly the shuttle," Jessie asked after a while.

"Tom gave me some basic instructions. I figured out the rest."

He reached up and applied a hypo spray to her neck. Jess could feel herself getting drowsy.

"What happened to the Viper," she asked as the sedative began taking immediate effect. "The one that followed us?"

"I shot her down right before we crashed."

"You shot her down?" Jessie's eyes became too heavy to remain open. "Kara."

* * *

When Jess woke up a few hours later she was still in the navigator's seat but with a blanket thrown over her and night had fallen. Carefully she sat up and was relieved to feel a hundred times better then the last time. Whatever Ben had given her must have worked. She stood up and while her head still hurt like hell she didn't feel like she was going to topple over either. She gingerly made her way outside.

Ben had started a fire a few feet away from the shuttle but he was no where to be seen.

"Ben?"

She heard some scraping noises and realized he was underneath the shuttle. He pulled himself out and smiled at her.

"Feeling better?"

"Much," she replied and she crouched down to look at what he was working on. "Do you have any idea of what you are doing?"

"None," he replied and he crawled out and dusted himself off. "And it's been too dark to see anything for at least an hour anyway."

She smiled at him.

"I'll take a look at it in the morning."

"I don't know how it works but it doesn't look like it will again for a while. When do you think Voyager will come looking for us?"

"They won't," she replied, looking up at the stars. "At least they aren't supposed to. They are supposed to assume we disintegrated or came across a lethal threat and not enter the rift. That's the whole purpose of me scouting it out first. That's probably the least of our problems at the moment though."

"Being stranded on a inhospitable planet is the least of our problems?"

Jessie nodded and looked back at Ben.

"That pilot you shot down--"

"Kara."

Jessie cringed slightly and nodded.

"Her ship will definitely come looking for her. And if they find us then I'm in a lot of trouble."

"Why do they want to kill you?"

She paused, trying to find the words.

"I didn't say goodbye," she said with a sad smile.

She walked over and sat down beside the fire. Ben watched the light of the fire dance on her face. Even if he couldn't feel the incredible sadness emanating off of her he would be able to see it carved into her features. He walked over and sat down next to her.

"Well that is exceedingly rude."

She smiled as she stared into the fire.

"Can I ask you something?"

"No," he said with a grin.

She laughed lightly.

"Tell me about what it's like in your time," she asked.

"My time?"

"Tell me what your life if like. What the Order is like. Tell me everything."

Ben was puzzled by the request but complied.

Jess eventually laid back on the ground and closed her eyes as he painted her the picture of his life. She imagined, as he spoke, the quiet order of the Jedi temple. It was amazing to think of hundreds of brown robed Jedi's studying and training together when all she was used to was one. She could picture the people he described, younglings walking in packs through the halls, Yoda hobbling by with his cane. And a young boy who grew to a young man, named Anakin Skywalker. When Ben spoke of him it was with frustration and pride and affection.

When Ben could think of little else to say Jessie rolled over on her stomach and looked at him.

"You've known Anakin for how long?"

"Since he was a young boy," Ben replied.

"Do you love him?"

Ben knew the trap she was setting for him and he sighed.

"Like a brother."

"And that is allowed?"

"Well, it is not encouraged."

"Why not?"

"What we do is dangerous. It would be--difficult to lose Anakin. And if I were to lose him in a battle it could distract me from my mission."

Jessie rolled back over onto her back.

"If I knew my family was in danger it would only make me more determined."

Ben slid closer to her and looked down at her.

"Why are you so interested in what the Jedi Order's policy is on love?"

"It just seems unrealistic and--cruel for someone to go through life without ever falling in love."

He was looking into her eyes and the way the fire seemed to reflect in them.

"Have you ever been in love," he asked.

She reached up as if to touch his beard and then suddenly her eyes went wide in fear. She grabbed his arms and threw him down just as a weapon discharged inches from them. Both she and Ben were on their feet and facing their attacker in a matter of seconds.

Ben watched as the figure staggered closer into the circle of firelight. It was a woman with shortly cropped hair, wearing a tattered flight suit. She had one arm in a makeshift sling and the other was holding a sizable blaster of some sort. She aimed it at Jessie and smiled.

"You forgot to say goodbye."


	9. Back to Good

Jessie put her hands up and nodded at the injured pilot. Ben could feel the tension tying the two women together like a tight rope but because Jess took the defensive posture he held back and watched.

"I'm sorry about that. I was a bit preoccupied at the time," she said.

"I remember," the pilot said viscously. "I was there when you tried blasting your way through the fleet." She flicked her head in Ben's direction. "Did you tell your boyfriend about your killing spree?"

Ben turned his startled gaze toward Jessie. The blood drained out of her face but she didn't take her eyes off of her adversary.

"I didn't actually kill anyone," Jessie said quietly. "I only really, really wanted to."

"Tell that to Commander Cain."

"I didn't kill her," Jessie said. "The Six beat me to her."

"The Six."

Jessie nodded but the pilot only got more agitated. The blaster in her hand began to shake.

"And what number are you?"

"You think I'm a cylon?"

"It's more believable then the fairy tale that you fed me." She turned to Ben. "She told me she could travel through time. She told me that she'd come across the Galactica before. Only the Starbuck she knew then was equipped differently. She told me she was from Earth and she could take us there and I bought it. And I made the old man believe it and then one day on some base ship somewhere someone flipped a switch and her programming kicked in and she went on a killing spree."

And then something inside of Jessie snapped.

"Nobody flipped a switch," she spat out, stomping toward the pilot. "I am not a cylon. What I did that day was entirely of my own free will. Commander Cain ordered Sharon to be _raped_. Maybe you can condone that but I can't."

Ben reached out with the Force and ripped the blaster out of the pilot's hands, knowing she was a split second from firing it and Jessie didn't seem to care. The pilot gave a yelp of surprise and started back stepping, turning her head back and forth between Ben and Jessie. Jessie put her hand out and used the Force to push her onto the ground. Then she stood over her, the rage inside her barely contained.

"Ever see a cylon do that?"

"What the frak are you?"

Jessie seemed to have an answer on the tip of her tongue but she stopped herself. She took a step back. She was breathing hard, trying to gain back the control that she'd lost.

"The same person you knew on Galactica," she finally replied and she backed away even further.

Ben could feel the rage ebb away and the simple misery from before fill her up again. He stepped next to her.

"This is Kara?"

Jessie nodded, looking down at the ground and then back at the pilot.

"Where did your ship land? Can it still be flown?"

"If it could do you think I'd be here?"

"Yes," Jessie replied. "Can it be fixed?"

"Not with one hand," she said, pointing to the arm in the sling.

Jessie turned back to Ben but seemed fixated on his shoulder when she talked.

"I think we should help her fix her Viper so she can get out of here."

"If they come looking for her and find you they'll take you into custody."

She nodded, staring off into the darkness. Ben put his finger under her chin and directed her gaze back to him. She struggled to look him in the eyes.

"So what she said is true?"

Her eyes filled with tears but she refused to blink and let any fall.

"Yes. I didn't kill anyone. But I would have. I wanted to. I'm not--" She struggled for the word: _perfect, good, a true Jedi_, "You."

He touched her cheek and her eyes went back to his.

"I never expected you to be," he said in a voice so tender that one of the tears hovering in her eyes finally rolled down her face.

* * *

Dawn was breaking when they finally reached Starbuck's viper so with the light they were able to start fixing it immediately.

"I think it's as good as it is going to get," Ben said eventually. "It's not nearly as damaged as your ship."

Jessie smiled at him.

"I guess it helps if the pilot actually knows how to fly it."

He chuckled and was glad to see that her spirits had lifted. She seemed immensely relieved that he didn't judge her for what had happened on Galactica. But as he watched her walk over to Kara he saw her body language change and he could sense the regret and something he could not name swell up inside her.

"We've done everything we could." Jessie told Starbuck. "It should get you back."

"How do I know you didn't rig it to explode when I hit the hangar?"

"I guess you don't."

Kara looked at Jessie with a hard expression, trying to read someone she had misjudged once before.

"You're asking me to trust you?"

"I never lied to you Kara," Jessie said gently, "about anything."

Starbuck looked at her a moment longer and then went over to her Viper. She clamored inside it awkwardly with her broken arm. Jessie watched her put her helmet on and start flipping the start up switches.

"Kara," Jessie said. She waited for her to look down at her. "Goodbye."

Starbuck was about to say something when alarms started sounding in her cockpit.

"Frak!" She shouted. "Incoming."

"How many?"

"From the looks of it -- all of them."

Ben hurried over to them.

"Incoming what?"

"Cylons. Troop carriers. A couple hundred raiders, at least."

"Can you reach orbit," he asked.

"I can probably blast my way through."

"Then go" Ben said, looking up at the sky for any signs of the threat.

"What about you? Your ship is embedded in the ground."

"We'll manage," he said, squinting at the specks now visible in the sky.

"You'll _manage_?"

Jessie smiled.

"Go, Kara. We'll be OK."

She stared at them a moment longer, then shaking her head, she continued her launch sequence. Before take off, she took one more look at the ground. Jessie and Ben were standing, each with a glowing sword in their hand, waiting for the onslaught.

* * *

Jessie didn't know how long they'd been fighting. It had felt like days. And yet she'd never felt so exhilarated. With Ben by her side she felt as if there was so much greatness in him that she was more powerful just by being near him. She watched him wield his lightsaber like it was an extension of his own arm.

Ben couldn't remember ever being so confident in battle. They'd been fending off hundreds of the machines she called Raiders and he had no thought that they could possibly lose. He knew exactly how Jess would react to each scenario. He'd never been so in sync with another Jedi. Not even Anakin. He watched her use her lightsaber like she was playing a musical instrument.

When the battle was over they were back to back scanning the horizon in each direction. Nothing moved. Simultaneously they shut down their lightsabers.

They turned and looked at each other. He felt like he could read her mind. He could feel the adrenaline pumping through her body, and beneath that, an urgent yearning. He was certain that by looking at him she could see the same things.

They were of the same mind, he realized. It seemed they should be of the same body as well.

So he leaned forward and kissed her. As his mouth covered hers she put her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer to him. He felt her body press against his and he felt a heat burst inside his body. His hands eased up her back into her hair. She'd worn it in a tight braid and he pulled the band out and freed the waves over her shoulders.

She let her tongue play along his lips until he opened his mouth and let her in to explore. As she eased inside him he felt the heat shoot to every corner of his body.

Then they heard the chime of her badge. He pretended not to hear it. This was the first experience he'd ever had and he never wanted it to stop. But she gently pulled away from him even as his mouth tried to follow. She turned away from him and caught her breath before hitting her comm badge.

"This is Jess," she replied. She turned and looked at him. "No, were good."


	10. Sex is not the enemy

It was the longest debrief in the history of Starfleet.

At least that's how it felt.

In actuality it was only about ten minutes.

Despite protocol, Voyager had followed them into the rift and tracked their signal. They salvaged Jessie's ship and beat a hasty retreat back from where they came to avoid any more of the "robots" that had attacked Jessie and Ben. Immediately, Captain Janeway asked for a report in her ready room. Realizing that they were exhausted and dirty she only asked for the minimum of details and then released them to go get cleaned up and to rest.

They did get cleaned up. Eventually.

Jess and Ben were talking about strategy whey they reached Jessie's room. She stepped inside and he followed. He was in mid sentence when the door closed behind him and their casual façade fell with it.

He encircled her from behind, lowering his head to kiss her neck. She caught her breath and put her hands over his. When he moved up her neck and traced her ear with his tongue she couldn't stand it any longer. She turned and caught his mouth with her own.

When Ben felt her hands slide under his shirt and skirt across his chest he felt sensations spilling through him that seemed to awaken things he didn't know existed.

"Are you sure," she whispered breathlessly into his ear.

He wasn't even sure what his own name was at that point. He nuzzled her neck and felt her skin under his fingertips, warm and inviting.

"Absolutely," he mumbled.

* * *

Ben felt a contentment he'd never felt before. Both his body and soul were sated of a thirst he'd never known he'd had.

Jessie lifted her head off his chest and looked into his eyes. Their bodies were still slick with sweat and her eyes were heavy. She smiled at him and he brushed a loose strand of hair away from her face.

"So," he asked, "did I do everything--correctly?'

Jessie let out a horrified laugh.

"Correctly?"

"Well I know how the pieces fit together but I never actually--fit them together before."

She smiled and he could feel joy radiating out of her body.

"Yes, you did quite well."

"Good," he said with a satisfied nod. Then he started running his fingertips up and down her spine. "So tell me about the Galactica."

She frowned at that.

"Your pillow talk, however, has something to be desired."

"Can you blame me for being curious?"

She sighed and rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling.

"I came across the Galactica a long time ago. It was this ship looking for Earth."

"Another ship looking for Earth? I really must explore it for myself someday."

She chuckled.

"I don't know if it was something I did but when I came across them again things were different then before. Not the least of which was that some of the people I knew had switched genders. But Galactica itself was a darker place. When they met up with another starship, the Pegasus, it became even darker. Commander Cain was ruthless." Jessie shifted uncomfortably with the memory. "She ordered one of the Cylon prisoners to be interrogated, and for her that meant brutally raped. Sharon was a friend of mine. When I got to the brig, Helio and the Chief had already rescued her, but not in time. They accidentally killed the interrogator. If they hadn't….." She swallowed. "I snapped. What Cain had done…I couldn't…I wouldn't let that go. So I grabbed a Viper and launched at the Pegasus. I cut my way through that entire ship to get to her. But when I got there another Cylon--one of the Six's--had already shot and killed her. She turned around and saw me. Maybe she knew why I was there, maybe I smiled, I don't know, but she walked right passed me and I didn't try and stop her. Of course I was the one everyone assumed killed her. I fled and eventually Luke found me."

She rolled over and grabbed the photo that was on the nightstand. She stared at the picture of her brother.

"He said he could feel my rage across the entire galaxy. He sent me to Starfleet for--."

"More discipline."

She smiled sadly and nodded.

"He didn't think the Jedi Order could help you control your anger?"

"He--thought I needed a change of scenery," she said with a shrug. "A change of discipline."

Obi Wan nodded thoughtfully at that. That was the one thing that still puzzled him. Jessie shifted at his side again and he looked at her and saw that she was studying his face intently.

"What are you thinking," she asked.

"I just can't imagine any place for a Jedi who had lost control other then the Jedi temple. I don't understand why your brother would send you away from the one place where you could get the most help."

"Oh."

"Oh?"

Jessie smiled. When Ben had gone silent she was sure that he was judging her. Luke had understood of course. But she had never expected anyone else to. Certainly not Obi Wan Kenobi. She was hideously flawed and not only did he overlook it, he embraced it. Quite literally.

"Um, you'd have to ask Luke why," she mumbled, tilting up the picture for him to see. But his focus wasn't on Luke, instead it shifted immediately to Leia.

"You're a twin?"

Dread suddenly washed through Jessie.

"No," she said clearing her throat. "Luke and Leia are twins. I came about a few years later."

"The resemblance is remarkable."

Before Jessie could come up with a response, her comm badge chimed.

"Thorton here," she said gratefully.

"Jess, the Captain would like your full report in one hour." Chakotay, the first officer, said.

"Of course, sir," she replied.

She terminated the transmission and looked at Ben.

"Is there a way to disable that annoying contraption?"

"You could take a lightsaber to it."

"Perhaps later. In the meantime, I should take a shower or the crew might wonder what we've been doing all this time."

The memory of what they had been doing all that time gave her a thrill. He rolled away from her and went into her bathroom. And Jessie rolled onto her back and grinned giddily at the ceiling. She was contemplating joining him in the shower when her computer chimed.

She rolled out of bed with a groan and went over to the console. She smiled when she saw it was from Leia. She started the transmission and walked over to her dressing table and picked up a brush.

"Hi Jess," Leia said in her distinctive voice. "I'm sorry it's been so long. I've been trying to track Luke down. I finally did and I let him know about Obi Wan."

Jess stopped in mid stroke of brushing her hair.

"He's coming back from the outer rim and he wants to rendezvous with Voyager. He should be there in a few days."

Jessie's fingers went numb and the brush slipped out of her hand and hit the carpeted floor with a dull thump.

* * *

Author's note: Sorry it's been so long since my last entry. I had a really hard time with this chapter. But a trip to the Comic-con has me all inspired. I am also going to change the name of this story. I was never happy with Epic. So if you get a notice that some story you've never heard of has a new chapter it's probably me.


	11. Truly, madly, deeply

Ben rolled over and reached out in the darkness only to find the other half of the bed empty. He lifted his head sleepily and glanced around the room.

"Jessie?"

But only silence remained. He thought it quite odd that he had spent his entire life sleeping alone and after only a few days finding his bed empty in the middle of the night felt wrong. He climbed out of the bed and pulled his clothes on. He was still securing the ties on his shirt when he stepped out into the corridor and walked right into B'Elanna.

"Uh, hello," she said, glancing at the door to confirm that it was Jessie's room he'd just stepped out of.

"Hello," he said. "Is Jessie on the nightshift tonight?"

"I don't think so," she said, and she tapped her comm badge. "Computer, can you locate Lieutenant Thorton?"

"Lieutenant Thorton is in Holodeck two," the pleasant voice of the computer replied.

"Thank you, B'Elanna," he replied and headed off in the direction of the holodeck.

B'Elanna watched him go and shook her head. In her best imitation of his accent she muttered: " And what about your oath of chastity?"

* * *

When the doors to the holodeck opened Ben was engulfed by music. He stepped inside and looked around. He was in a massive room that was sparse except for a wide metal staircase before him. He could hear the sounds of clashing lightsabers coming from the top of the stairs and he slowly started to climb. He began to absorb the words to the song that was blaring and it filled him with dread.

_Here comes the woman  
With the look in her eye  
Raised on leather  
With flesh on her mind  
Words as weapons sharper than knives  
Makes you wonder how the other half die  
Other half die  
_

_The devil inside, the devil inside_

_Every single one of us, the devil inside_

When Ben reached the top of the stairs he found Jessie engaged in a ferocious battle with someone that was completely encased in black armor. He was a dark figure that seemed to be the embodiment of evil.

As Ben watched them fight, transposed against an enormous circular window displaying a starscape behind them, he felt a spike of fear stab him. He knew it was a simulation but Jessie looked desperate as she struggled to defend herself and it was very clear that she was losing.

The dark figure, clearly a Sith Lord, lifted his hand and Jessie rose into the air and was slammed back against the nearest wall. She remained pinned against it, struggling for breath until Ben couldn't stand it any longer. He lifted his hand and gave the armored man a Force push that sent him spiraling off his feet. Released, Jess slid to the floor. She landed on her hands and knees, gasping. She looked up at Ben and her eyes went wide.

Then the dark Jedi spoke.

"Obi Wan."

It was more of a hiss then a voice but it sent a shock wave through Ben. It was as if he knew the voice but….

"Computer, end program," Jessie barked out and the room and her imposing combatant vanished. The music ended as well and they were left in silence.

"What was that?" Ben demanded, alarmed and unsure why.

Jessie climbed to her feet and he could see that she was soaked in sweat and had several burn marks on her arms.

"A training exercise," she replied.

He took her hand and gently pulled her closer, examining her injuries.

"You took the safeties off the holodeck?"

She shrugged.

"I can't really learn anything if I know I'm always going to win."

"That thing almost killed you."

She pushed her hand through her hair and looked down at the floor. Ben put his finger under her chin and directed her eyes to meet his.

"Jessie, who was that? He recognized me."

She looked him in the eyes for a very long time. She was struggling with something, he knew. And in that moment he wanted her to give him a straight answer more then any time before. When she looked back down at her feet though, he knew she would not give him that.

"Just a simulation I created. I updated the perimeters to recognize you in the event you wanted to use the program too."

"And the music?"

She shrugged and moved away from him.

"My theme song," she said with a laugh that sounded false to his ears. "I like to workout to music."

"And you chose to do all this in the middle of the night?"

"I couldn't sleep."

He crossed his arms and studied her. Since the day they met she had never given him a complete answer about anything. She hadn't been able to. But no other time then right now was he convinced she was simply lying to him.

"Jess…"

She turned back to him suddenly and put both hands on either side of his face. Unlike before she seemed desperate to look him in the eyes, to make sure that he knew she was telling the truth this time.

"I love you," she whispered. And then she kissed him. Truly. Madly. Deeply.

When she pulled away from him she buried her head in his chest and Ben found he'd lost the ability to speak.

"I know the vows you took," she whispered. "I know you can't--"

"But I--" he sputtered. Yes, he had taken vows that forbid him from love but that had also included intimacy. And that certainly hadn't stopped him recently. Still, the words refused to come out of his mouth.

"I just wanted you to know that," she said.

"You're worried", he said abruptly, pulling away from her so he could study her face. "Terrified. You have been since you told me your brother was coming here. Why are you scared of him?"

She shook her head and smiled a little.

"I'm not afraid of Luke. It's just--" she touched his face. "Things are going to change once he gets here."

* * *

Captain Janeway had agreed to let Luke surprise Jessie when he arrived. But when her friend B'Elanna escorted him to the holodeck she seemed hesitant.

"You may want to let them know you're coming," she said when the door slid open on a tropical setting.

"Why?"

"Because you don't want to stumble across them--training," she mumbled.

Luke was still puzzling over what she meant when he heard the familiar clash and sizzle of lightsabers connecting as he made his way through the jungle. He followed the sound until he broke through the foliage and stumbled across a clearing with a stunning waterfall.

It was several stories high and near the top, on a narrow outcropping, Jessie was engaged in battle with a Jedi Master. Obi Wan Kenobi.

Luke watched with unabashed awe. When Luke met Obi Wan he was older and slower but still an amazing fighter and a powerful man. Seeing him now, decades younger, in his prime, was incredible.

He moved with easy grace and, oddly at the same time, with lightening quick reflexes. And he had a small, unexpected smile on his face and a mischievous look in his eyes that Luke didn't expect to see.

His heart swelled with pride to see Jessie sparring with his former master and holding her own. He could see a definite improvement in her technique. Still, where Obi Wan was elegant Jessie was brash.

He watched as Obi Wan did an impressive forward flip to the tier she was on only to watch her grab a fistful of dirt and blind him with it. It threw him off balance long enough for her to send her foot into his abdomen. Only he didn't need his eyesight to reach out and catch her ankle before it connected. He gave it a twist that sent her crashing over the side.

Her lightsaber jarred out of her hand. She flipped onto her back and reached out to it but Obi Wan was quicker. He landed next to her and her lightsaber flew to his hand.

He leveled his weapon at her.

"Do you yield?" He asked rather smugly.

Jessie lifted her chin defiantly and didn't surprise Luke at all by replying: "Never!"

But something about the tone she used seemed--inappropriate.

Obi Wan lifted an eyebrow.

"Never?" She shook her head slowly, a wicked smile growing on her face. Luke felt his stomach drop to about his knees. "I am a Jedi you know. I have my ways."

"Oh I know you do," she replied and Luke swallowed hard.

_They wouldn't….._

Obi Wan snapped off his lightsaber and dropped on his knees in front of Jessie and pulled her into a kiss. And it wasn't a gentle kiss or in anyway tentative. They'd done it often from the looks of it. And more, he realized with a jolt of unease, as he watched Obi Wan reach around and put his hands on his sister's backside and push her up against him.

_Oh I sooo don't want to see this…._

Luke actually felt bile creep up the back of his throat when Jess suddenly pulled away from Obi Wan and shot her head in his direction.

She smiled brilliantly at him and quickly disentangled herself from the stunned Jedi Master to run over to him. He was still feeling a bit unsteady when she threw her arms around him and with it all of her love and enthusiasm covered him like a blanket. He felt his world refocus and he clutched her tightly. It was then that he could feel all of her emotions bubbling within her.

She was in love. In love with Obi Wan.

"It's good to see you kitten," he whispered. She pulled back from him and smiled brightly. Then she turned toward Obi Wan, who was approaching them cautiously.

"Ben," she said to him and held out her hand. "This is Luke."

Obi Wan's clouded expression cleared and he chuckled.

"Luke," she said with a quiet reverence. "Obi Wan Kenobi."


	12. Revelations

Luke had anticipated this moment since Leia had contacted him. He had wondered what he would say to the man who had changed the course of his life. The man who showed him what he really was and introduced him to what he was capable of. But when the actual moment came, he was speechless.

Obi Wan grinned in a rather embarrassed manner (he had, after all, just been caught groping his sister) and extended his hand to him. Luke was reaching to do the same and without thought pulled him into a bear hug because a handshake seemed an incredibly insufficient greeting for a man who had died for him.

When he pulled away he realized Obi Wan, having just met him, might think him wildly inappropriate but the Jedi Master just smiled.

"Nice to meet you," he said. "I take it we are close."

Luke just nodded clumsily.

"Your sister tells me you were my padawan once. Or you will be, depending on the point of view."

Luke glanced at Jess, who gave him a "what the hell was I suppose to say" kind of shrug/ funny face combo.

"Um, yes," Luke finally spit out. "You could say that."

"Another one who speaks in riddles," Obi Wan said with a sigh. "Wonderful."

"I--" Luke looked to his sister for help but she was too busy laughing. "You and Master Yoda were both responsible for my training."

"Really?" Obi Wan's interest piqued. "Then would you care to show me what you've been taught?" He gestured toward the clearing that he and Jessie had been (among other things) sparring in.

Jessie watched Luke's eyes get as big as a child's. She knew he was so excited that he could barely contain himself but he simply smiled and gave a nod. The two men walked over to the middle of the clearing and Jessie sat down in the shade of a tree to watch the spectacle.

"Jessie tells me you are the greatest Jedi to ever live," Obi Wan said, igniting his lightsaber.

"Well she certainly is biased, but…" Luke said, igniting his own weapon.

"But?"

"I _was _trained by the best."

And with that they launched at each other. Like two equally matched lions, they crashed together but in a shower of sparks. It was staggering to watch. Lightsabers arched and clashed in blinding color patterns. Both men parrying and thrusting, each anticipating the other by nanoseconds. Jess found herself clutching her knees to her chest, her body constricted with tension as she watched. They both moved with such grace and such assurance she really had no idea who would win.

Both men were sweating and nearing exhaustion by the end. But it wasn't a test of skill that determined the victor.

Obi Wan and Luke were locked together, lightsaber to lightsaber, and Obi Wan was marveling to himself how powerful his opponent was, when he got a good look at Luke's eyes. It was like staring at Anakin. And he lost concentration just then and Luke used it to his full advantage. A kick to the legs and a Force grab at his lightsaber and Luke was standing above his first Master, two lightsabers in hand.

Obi Wan smiled ruefully up at him and climbed to his feet.

"So perhaps she didn't exaggerate," he said.

"No, she did. She always does," Luke said, glancing at Jess as she walked toward them. "You lost your concentration. How come?"

Obi Wan studied Luke's face for a moment but dismissed the thought.

"Because I have become too easily distracted as of late," he said, as Jessie walked up to them and he smiled at her.

* * *

"So why do you call her kitten?" Ben asked over dinner later that evening.

Jessie turned a laser look of death on her brother.

"Don't you dare."

"What was that song called," Luke pondered out loud.

"There was no song," Jessie insisted. "You have no idea what you are talking about."

"Love Cats!" He cried out with a laugh. Then yelped in pain when Jess kicked him under the table. A few of the Voyager crew glanced at their table and Luke lowered his voice. "When I found Jess she was working as a dancer in the seediest bar this side of Chalmun's Cantina. And the first time I laid eyes on her she was dancing to a song called Love Cats, tail and all. After we got to know each other I started calling her kitten."

Jessie heaved her fork at Luke with every ounce of strength she had and he caught it without blinking.

"Got to know each other?" Obi Wan asked, both amused and bewildered by the act of attempted fratricide.

Luke and Jessie looked up at each other and then immediately back down at their dinner again.

"Luke, Leia, and I were raised separately." Jessie said. "I didn't even know they existed until Luke came and found me."

"Why--" Obi Wan began but stopped when he saw the looks both of them gave him. "Right. So what is the weather like?"

* * *

Obi Wan couldn't remember a better time in his entire life and it disturbed him to no end. He knew he shouldn't be so comfortable. He knew he should be more concerned about what was happening in his own time. But he couldn't set aside how happy he was. With Luke here he found an unexpected companion. Like Jessie, Luke didn't say much about himself but he had endless fascination for Obi Wan's upbringing and training. And Luke also proved to be an incredible training partner. Ben was coming to realize that he might even be more powerful then Anakin, if that were possible.

And Jessie couldn't seem to be more delighted. She clearly worshipped her brother, despite the occasional utensil throwing. Even so, he could still sense a current of unease running through her. Never more so then at night. Mingled in the darkness there was an intensity to her that wasn't there before. It was as if she was trying to wring everything she could from him before--

Before what? He was pondering that question when he turned a corner in the corridor and saw Jessie standing before the holodeck. She was looking at the control panel outside the door with a look of horror. Then she hastily went inside. Curious, Obi Wan followed her. When he entered he found himself under the staircase in the program she had run with the Sith Lord. Above him he could make out the dark figure frozen in place by the program and Luke, standing before him.

"I'm sorry," Jessie was saying, as she took the stairs to the top two at a time. "You weren't supposed to see this."

"Has he seen it," Luke asked quietly, his voice strangely strangled.

"Ben?"

Luke nodded.

"Yes," she replied.

Obi Wan was about to announce himself but he stopped.

"What did you tell him?"

"That it's a simulation."

Luke turned toward her and shook his head.

"Why would you do this to yourself?"

"You got to fight your demons and win. I still fight mine. Everyday."

"The only demons you have left," he said, tapping her forehead, "are here."

Jessie shook her head and backed away.

"I wish that were true."

"It is true," he cried in frustration. "You sabotage yourself, nobody else does."

"How can you say that?"

"How can you not? What about Obi Wan?"

Jessie crossed her arms and backed away from Luke even more.

"What about him?"

"I've spent time with him, Jess. You've lied to him about just about everything."

"I've never lied to him, not once. He's just assumed--"

"That the Jedi counsel now approves of everything he's found here with you? That Jedi's are allowed to fall in love, allowed to procreate, allowed to marry!"

Obi Wan made it up the first step before he had to stop and sway in place. His footsteps were enough to draw both Luke and Jessie's attention. He felt a piece of himself dying as he spoke.

"They're not?"


	13. Betrayal

Obi Wan didn't need an answer. The look of naked horror on Jessie's face damned her without words but he still wanted to hear them say it.

"The Jedi Order has not changed it's policy on--" he squeezed his eyes shut. "love or--sex?"

"Ben…."

His eyes snapped open and he leveled a withering gaze at Jessie. It was enough to still her words. Then he looked at Luke for his answer.

"Everything she told me, everything I've done here, has really been against the beliefs of the Jedi Order, hasn't it?"

Luke swallowed hard.

"Luke…" Jessie whispered, begging.

"Yes." Luke finally replied.

Obi Wan staggered back as if he'd received a physical blow.

"Ben…" Jessie cried, running down the steps to reach him. But he put up his hand and it was like she hit a wall. Losing her footing she stumbled backwards and landed hard on the steps. And Ben left the room without a word.

Luke felt a chill run down his spine. _This was going to be really bad._

Jessie remained sitting on the top step, staring at the place where Ben had just been. Luke could feel the remorse pouring out of her with the tears she was already shedding. The remorse and the anger.

_Really bad. _

He leaned over to help her up and she yanked her arm away from him.

"How could you do that to him," she demanded. "How could you do that to _me_?"

"He needed to know the truth, Jess."

"He doesn't know the truth," she cried. "He thinks we're some sort of--Jedi fringe movement. He thinks the Jedi Order still exists and we live outside of it. To him we're probably no better then the Sith!"

He grabbed her arm before she could flee. She tried wrestling from his grip.

"He loves you, Jess."

This made her stop fighting him.

"No he doesn't," she said.

"Yes, he does. He loves you above reason. He was contemplating abandoning his life. He wanted to stay here. With you."

Jessie looked up at her brother and for the first time in her life hated what she saw there.

"So you made sure that he didn't want to any more."

"He has to go back, Jess. Everything depends on it. Including your existence."

That made her even angrier then before. She ripped her arm away from him and left the room.

* * *

Jessie ran down the corridor, in search of Ben. She had to find him. She would tell him everything. About the Jedi Order, about Anakin, Palpatine, even where she came from if it would make a difference. The time continuum and everyone else be damned. Then she got a stitch in her side and she paused only long enough to catch her breath. She decided to close her eyes and try to concentrate on where he was. Immediately she regretted it because all she could sense of him anymore was a radiating hatred.

"No," she whispered as she pushed her hands through her hair. She leaned back against the bulkhead and hit her head against it. The corridor started to spin and she could hear B'Elanna, asking her if she was all right as she slid down the wall onto the floor.

* * *

Luke knew that he had to find Obi Wan before Jessie did. He knew what she would do if she found him first. And he couldn't let that happen. When he entered the docking bay and found Tom Paris struggling to his feet he had the sinking feeling he'd found him. He went to Tom and helped him up.

"What happened?"

"I don't know. Obi Wan came in here and was heading for his ship. He looked--I don't know--like a different person. I asked him what was going on and the next thing you know I was flat on my back."

"He left?"

Tom shook his head.

"He can't. That's what I was trying to tell him. His engine is dismantled."

Luke nodded.

"Listen, if Jessie comes in here, don't let her in."

Tom looked puzzled. "Like I can stop her."

"Try?"

Tom nodded and Luke left him to approach Obi Wan's ship. The Jedi was slamming pieces of the engine back together with limited success. He had his back to Luke but it was clear that he knew he was there.

"I wouldn't if I were you."

Luke stopped.

"Wouldn't what?"

"Speak."

"I thought you might want an explanation."

Obi Wan let out a bark of a laugh.

"_Now_ they want to explain something to me. Well, thank you, but I've learned all I need to. Finally."

Luke walked over to where he could face Obi Wan as the Jedi Master worked on the engine. He was shaken to the core to see that, as Tom said, Obi Wan did look different. The humor in his eyes had vanished and he actually looked older then he had only hours before.

"Besides," he continued. "Do you expect me to believe anything either of you have to say?"

"Alright," Luke said slowly. "Then how would you like to go home?"

* * *

The two men worked silently throughout the night to put Obi Wan's ship back together. Scarcely a word passed between them until they were finished.

"You can actually send me back to the instant I left," Obi Wan said.

"I can," Luke replied. "No one will know that you even left--if that's what you want."

Obi Wan didn't look at him when he replied: "Of course."

Luke actually seemed relieved.

"Then first thing in the morning--"

"I'd prefer right now."

Luke shook his head.

"I'd prefer you get some rest. You'll be returning to a very busy day. Trust me."

Obi Wan made a grunting sound.

"Unlikely."

"And you may want to say some goodbyes--"

"I won't." Obi Wan said shortly.

Luke watched him walk away and he couldn't decide what made him more uneasy--returning Obi Wan to his own time in the state he was in, or the fact that Jessie hadn't come looking for either of them the entire night.

* * *

Jessie sat on the bed in her room, staring straight ahead. There was a hurricane of emotion swirling inside of her as the same scene continued to play back in her head.

_Jessie sat on the med table, staring at the Doctor. The room seemed to be tilting at a strange angle behind him. _

_"That's impossible," she whispered. _

_"Perhaps, but I've run the test three times and there you have it," he replied._

_"You know my physiology, Doctor. This isn't--possible."_

_"Perhaps Obi Wan has an explanation? Would you like for me to send for him--"_

_"No!"_

* * *

Obi Wan stared at the ceiling. Luke expecting him to get any sleep seemed to be a ridiculous idea. Voyager seemed like a coffin to him now and he knew he was going to suffocate if he didn't get out. In his mind's eye all he could see was an endless loop of all the lies Jessie had told him and his own shameful ideas of abandoning his duties for her. He needed to gain back his control. If he didn't do that then his failure would be complete.

So he closed his eyes; but all he could see was her.

Jess was in her room. She was sitting on her bed, her head in her hands, sobbing. He hadn't expected that. Was it because she had failed at whatever it was she was trying to accomplish? Eventually she stood up and started pacing the room, rubbing her arms as if she were cold. There was music playing in the background. There was a frantic beat to it that seemed to match her pulse.

_Love can be so strange  
Don't it amaze you?  
Everytime you give yourself away  
It comes back to haunt you  
Love's an elusive charm and it can be painful  
To understand this crazy world  
But you're not gonna crack  
No you're never gonna crack  
_

She leaned her head against her portal window and stared out into the black void. Then she squeezed her eyes closed as if fighting something inside of her. Finally, though, she opened her eyes again and tendrils of color began to snake through the darkness. Blue, yellow, violet, green. They were the time rifts that she could detect, he realized.

_Find out who you are before you regret it  
Because life is so short, there's no time to waste it  
_

_So run my baby run my baby run  
Run from the noise of the street and the loaded gun  
Too late for solutions to solve in the setting sun  
So run my baby run my baby run  
Run my baby run my baby run  
Run my baby run my baby run  
Run my baby run my baby run  
Run my baby run my baby run  
_

She ran her finger carefully along the window over the outline of one of the rifts and Obi Wan knew instinctively what she was going to do. He bolted upright in his bed and was suddenly running toward the door. He didn't stop until he reached Jessie's quarters. The door slid open and when he saw a figure standing just inside he thought he'd made it in time. But that idea was shattered when the figure turned and it was Luke, not Jessie.

"It's too late," he said, "she's gone."

"Gone?" Obi Wan stammered. "Why?"

Luke looked out the window.

"Because that's what she does."

* * *

As the Doctor hurried down to the docking bay he still had no idea what he was going to say. He just knew that he had to say something.

When he entered the docking bay he passed by various crewmembers as they were leaving, having already said their good-byes to Obi Wan. Every one of them looked sad and he couldn't tell if it was because Obi Wan was leaving or because Jessie already had. She and her ship had disappeared in the night and no one knew exactly how she did it because no alarms went off when the docking bay shielding went off to let her out. There was quite a bit of bitterness for her abandonment as well. And the Doctor felt partly responsible for it but he was bound by his programming not to disclose why.

When he reached Obi Wan's ship it was only he and Luke that remained.

"Thank you for seeing me off, Doctor," Obi Wan said. "And I appreciate everything that you did for me."

"Well thank you for allowing me to--eventually."

Obi Wan smiled but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"And so you will not be returning to find out where Lieutenant Thorton has gone," the Doctor asked as casually as he could.

Obi Wan visibly cringed.

"No."

"Ah, well then, I hope you have a safe journey, Obi Wan." Then he turned to Luke. "And Luke, you will be trying to find Jessie?"

"Yes," he replied, "Why do you ask?"

"It's just that she left without her prescription and I was hoping that you could pass it on to her when you find her."

He handed a hypospray to Luke who looked at it curiously. But it was Obi Wan that asked. "Is she sick?"

"No, she's not sick," the Doctor replied.

"What is this," Luke asked, shaking the hypospray.

"Prenatal vitamins," the Doctor replied.

Both men, previously looking at the prescription, shot their heads up to look at the Doctor. Obi Wan's mouth was moving but he couldn't seem to formulate any words.

"That's impossible," Luke finally spit out.

"That's what I keep hearing," the Doctor said with a nod, turning and leaving the two men in stunned silence.

It took a full two minutes before Obi Wan could choke out a coherent sentence.

"I have to find her…them. I have to--"

But Luke grabbed him by the shoulders.

"No, you have to go back," he insisted desperately. "I'll find her. I promise, but you have to go back to your own timeline and act like none of this ever happened."

"Like none of this ever happened," Obi Wan sputtered.

"Listen to me, everything depends on you. Everything. Now clear your mind." He gave him a shake for emphasis. "Clear your mind and focus."

It took a Herculean effort but Obi Wan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His thoughts were still in turmoil but he tried to focus on what Luke was telling him.

"I will come back for you, OK? When it's all over I will come back and get you and we can look for her together. But you have to promise me to put this and everything that happened here in the back of your mind until then."

"When what is all over? Where--"

"You'll know. You'll know when it's over. You're going to have a lot of time on your hands and we can search for her then. I'll come for you on Tatooine. OK?"

Obi Wan didn't understand but he nodded.

"On Tatooine."

* * *

Author's note: Thanks to everybody who is reading! I appreciate all the positive feedback that you've given me. And to those who may be reading and not reviewing go ahead and put in your two cents: good, bad or indifferent. It's good for the soul.


	14. Encounters

PART 2

When Jessie awoke she had no idea where she was. She sat up abruptly and her stomach gave a nauseating lurch, reminding her of where she was and why.

"Serenity," she mumbled. She looked around her closet-sized room, the windowless, steel gray chamber, and laughed. Serenity was certainly not what came to mind for her. But she did vaguely recall that in this timeline Serenity might have been a battle or siege or something else that was less then serene. Normally she was better at recalling the details of a timeline she'd been in before but right now all she could think about was food.

She stood up and immediately started to tremble. She didn't know how long she'd been asleep but it felt like she hadn't eaten in days. And yet the thought of food was also making her sick to her stomach. But if she didn't eat something immediately she was convinced she was going to die.

Lightheaded and ravenous, she stepped out of her room into the foreign ship. Under normal circumstances she would have already explored every crevice of the ship by now, assessed the crew, and formulated an escape plan if needed. The fact that she'd left herself so vulnerable so quickly was extremely unsettling. She couldn't let her guard down, especially now. She wrapped a hand over her still flat stomach and continued down the walkway.

Occasionally she heard voices around corners and down hallways but none of them sounded like Kaylee and she wasn't up to meeting anyone new until she felt better. She eventually made her way to a small dining room / kitchen area that looked surprisingly comforting. She went to the cabinets and forgot all about being stealth when she started ripping them open in search of food. Her head was pounding by now and her hands trembling.

"My God," she whispered to herself. "How did Leia start a government in this condition?"

"Can I help you?"

His voice was so unexpected she actually yelped and whipped her head around to see the man who had spoken. He was tall and fairly muscular with dark hair and disapproving dark eyes. Jessie was shaken to her core that she hadn't sensed or even heard him come up behind her. She had to get herself together and quickly.

"Yes, you can tell me where I can find something to eat," she said coolly, trying to cover up her surprise.

"Well you could have found your fill an hour ago with the rest of us."

Her eyes narrowed.

"I wouldn't expect a vessel like this to have such a rigid dining schedule."

"A vessel like this?"

"Don't get me wrong," she said. "I have a soft spot for questionable space freighters that willingly transport even more questionable passengers. But I was under the impression that my passage included meals."

He stepped closer to her, trying to intimidate her with his height she guessed. Boy had he picked the wrong girl.

"It did," he said slowly, with a slight drawl. "An hour ago."

Her grip on the cabinet doors tightened. She was contemplating ripping them off and hurling them at him.

"You see," he said, pacing the room slowly. "I'm the captain of this vessel and I like to know what questionable types I might be carrying. Some, it turns out, are more trouble then they are worth." He was standing over her again. "And I'm beginning to sense that you may be just that."

"Unquestionably," she growled.

"Oh good!" Her cheerful voice filled the room like a daisy chain of flowers had just danced in. "You've been finding your way around," Kaylee remarked. "Cap'n, this is our new passenger, her name is Jessie. She's going to be with us a spell." She sailed over to the refrigerator and started digging around in the back. "Jessie, this is Captain Malcolm Reynolds, but we just call him Mal most of the time."

Jessie let go of the cabinet doors reluctantly. Kaylee's presence seemed to deflate her need to knock the captain unconscious.

"I'm sorry you missed dinner," she continued, pulling herself out of the refrigerator. "But you were sleeping so peaceful I didn't have the heart to wake you." She turned around and held out a plate of food for her. "I did save you a plate, though. I had to hide it so Jayne wouldn't find it."

Jessie took the plate gratefully and cast a triumphant look at Mal.

"Normally we eat meals together," Kaylee said. "But after you're finished I'll take you on a tour and introduce you to the rest of the crew."

Kaylee flitted out of the room as effortlessly as she had entered. Jessie pulled out a chair and sat down so she could eat, hopefully not as ravenously as she felt. Mal remained, arms crossed, watching her in a disgruntled silence.

"How long is a "spell"," he finally asked.

Jessie looked up blankly from her plate, enjoying the equilibrium the food was bringing back to her body.

"Kaylee said you were going to be with us a "spell"."

"I have no idea," she replied. "But if all my meals come with the same show, then not long I expect."

"In my experience when someone doesn't have anywhere specific to go it's because they want to be as far away as they can from where they've been."

"And how is that any of your business, Captain?"

He leaned over the table so he could look her in the eyes.

"Because I don't want my crew or my ship in the crosshairs of whatever you're running from."

She stared right back at him.

"I wouldn't either," she said.

* * *

Obi Wan sat in his new dwelling on Tatooine and waited.

What Luke had asked him to do had been surprisingly easy. Once he found himself back in his own time, and pitched in the middle of a battle, it had been easy to pull a veil over everything that had happened back on Voyager. The fact that no one even realized he had even been gone made the entire three months seem unreal. Like a dream or a fantasy that he had created in his head. And as events unfolded around him in his own time he was too busy or too preoccupied to dwell on it.

He could only think of two times when that thin barrier in his head cracked.

The first time was when he went to Padme to ask her if she knew where Anakin had gone. It was then that he realized she was pregnant and he was almost staggered by the image of her--dark haired and dark eyes, Anakin's child poorly hidden now, by her dress. How similar Jessie must look, would look? The question almost blotted out the horrors he had witnessed that day.

The second time was when Padme gave birth. By then, the barely formed theory in his head began to materialize. All the loose ends and unanswerable questions he'd found on Voyager suddenly had answers. Why Luke and Jessie didn't abide by the rules of the Jedi Order was painfully clear. There was no Jedi Order. He'd also begun to suspect why Jessie had looked familiar to him the first time he saw her and why looking into Luke's eyes had been like looking into Anakin's.

When the surgical droid told him Padme was having twins and she was dying his suspicions were confirmed and shattered. He held Padme's newborn children as she named them--Luke and Leia. And then he held his breath. He knew she had to survive; there could be no other explanation for Jessie. So when she died, right before his eyes, he knew there was one more lie she had told him that he had never even expected.

So now he waited, perhaps foolishly, for Luke to come for him. It had already been several weeks since he'd dropped the infant Luke off with his aunt and uncle but he was certain that this was the end that Luke had referred to.

It had always been Obi Wan's plan to confess his indiscretions when the war was resolved. But now he was alone, with no one to confess to, and once the floodgates of those forbidden memories broke, leaving him to dwell on what he had been so careful to bury, he could feel the resentment and the anger building inside of him.

The mixture of Jessie's betrayal, his missing child, and to have just witnessed the destruction of everything he believed at the hands of the only other person that he loved became a toxic poison that he lived on each day that he waited. And the longer he waited the more evident it became that Luke wasn't going to come for him. He was going to leave him here where he would never be able to track Jessie or his child down. Just another betrayal.

So it was an expected hope that flared in his chest when he crossed the desert back to his dwelling one evening and saw it lit up even in his absence. He went to the door, and opened it cautiously. He realized he was hoping it was Jessie that was waiting for him and that rebellious thought shot pangs of anger through him.

And that was what Luke sensed when Obi Wan walked in the door. He frowned at his old friend. Clearly leaving him alone had not been a good idea. But Luke knew what Obi Wan had just gone through. What he had just witnessed. That, on top of what happened on Voyager. Luke had thought he would need some time alone to sort out his thoughts. Clearly a miscalculation on his part.

"You've finally come," Obi Wan said quietly.

"I told you I would."

"You told me a lot of things."

"I imagine you have a lot of questions."

"Only one," Obi Wan said and he couldn't disguise the venom in his voice no matter how hard he tried. "Where is she?"


	15. Something Wicked

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Han muttered.

Despite the gravity of the moment Luke cracked a slight smile. Then he sighed and shrugged as his eyes followed Obi Wan stalking around the swamp a few yards away.

"What was I supposed to do? I couldn't leave him back there. He has a right to go look for her."

"And what do you think he's going to do to her when he finds her?"

"Do _to _her?"

Han sighed. He was leaning against the Falcon, arms crossed, trying to ignore the smell. He had gotten the cryptic message from Luke to meet him on Dagobah and he had dutifully gone but nothing could have prepared him for the rotting swamp landscape or when Luke introduced him to the long dead Obi Wan Kenobi.

"Listen," he said. "I'm as fond of that old fossil as you are but I can't imagine anyone more dangerous then a Jedi as t'd off as he is right now."

Luke rubbed the back of his neck and glanced at Obi Wan again. The Jedi Master had stopped pacing and was looking at him now. Luke turned away from the penetrating gaze to speak to Han again.

"He's a Jedi. One of the greatest Jedi's to even live. He'll regain control."

"Is that why you've got him holed up in this five star resort?"

That was exactly why. But he was also hoping that here, where he had spent the remainder of his very long life, Yoda might make an appearance and smack some sense into him.

"Well I can't just let him run around the galaxy," Luke sighed. "He'd be kind of hard to explain. Nobody but you and Leia knows that's he's here."

"Did you explain to him--about Jess?"

Luke rubbed his temple. "Yes. It seems to have made matters worse, if that's possible."

"Well she shredded him Luke." Luke's head bobbed up defensively and Han put his hands up. He knew how protective he and Leia were of Jessie. "I'm not saying she did it intentionally but she did put his heart in a blender and switched it to liquefy. I don't know how you think a few days in this--"

Han's voice trailed off and Luke frowned. He followed his gaze and realized what Han had. Obi Wan was no longer stalking around the clearing. He had in fact vanished.

"Ben?" Luke shouted as he lurched into the swamp.

Grumbling curses Han followed him and the two men went deeper into the surrounding foliage, looking for the Jedi. Luke knew the landscape like the back of his hand but after a thorough search they hadn't turned up anything. Han stopped to lean up against a tree.

"Maybe he just went off to meditate or something," he said, trying to catch his breath. "I mean why are we bothering? It's not like he can get off this moss ball without a ship."

The same thought occurred to them at the same time. They looked at one another and then they were both sprinting back to where they had landed their ships. They heard the roar of the engines right before they reached the clearing. Han staggered out behind Luke, who had come to a dead stop in front of him. He looked up and watched the ship ascend.

"Luke."

"Yeah."

"Tell me that your dead mentor didn't just steal the Falcon."

"I wish I could."

Han started cursing a stream of profanities not normally heard in nature. Luke just watched the ship disappear and he shook his head.

"This is really bad."

* * *

Jessie opened her eyes. She felt a tremor of some sort but she wasn't sure what it was. Something was coming. Of course she expected that. She wouldn't be running if she had no one to run from. And eventually Luke would find her. He always did. But this didn't feel like Luke. It could be that she was so far and in such a remote timeline that he simply felt different.

She had picked this timeline specifically for that reason. It was far more removed than most of the ones that she had tumbled through in her lifetime. Here no one was looking for Earth. They were, in fact, fleeing from it. The Earth had been used up and thrown away and all of it's inhabitants scattered throughout the universe. And by being on Serenity she was constantly in motion. If he could track her down to this timeline he'd still have an entire universe to search for her in.

She closed her eyes and wondered exactly why she was running. Initially she fled Voyager because it was the right thing to do. She knew Luke was right, Ben had to go back. If she had told him about the baby then he certainly wouldn't have. Or perhaps she was just deluding herself and his hatred of her would have extended to their child as well. An actual living, breathing reminder of how she had caused his fall from grace. She sighed and admitted that that had been her real reason for abandoning Voyager. She'd panicked. She couldn't bear the thought of Ben not only hating her but their baby as well.

But since she hadn't blinked out of existence she knew Luke had sent him back and he had fulfilled his part in their history. He was safely back in his own time and place where he belonged and she was in her own private hell, exactly where she belonged.

So why was she still running? She knew Luke would say it was because that is what she did. Leia would never understand, period. Running was a foreign concept to her. But for Jess, it was instinct. She knew there was something out there coming to get her so while Leia would fight, she would flee. It was the most significant difference between them. But who would be coming for her now? Once back in his own timeline Obi Wan couldn't get back here without help and surely Luke wouldn't…..

"By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes…"

Jessie's whole body twitched and she leaped off her cot to face her door. Standing in her doorway was a fragile looking girl with pale skin, large eyes, and about Jessie's height. Kaylee had introduced her to everyone on board except for Simon's sister who Kaylee had said was taken to hiding. What had she said the girl's name was…?

"River?"

The girl didn't answer. She simply tilted her head and stared at Jess like she was a really interesting insect.

"You're a reasonable facsimile," she said with a nod. "Only a darker shade."

Jessie blinked.

"What?"

"He's coming for you, you know. You should be prepared." Then she pulled a knife from behind her back and hurled it at Jess' head.

* * *

Coruscant was as different as it was the same. From a distance, it didn't look like it had changed at all. But as Obi Wan approached the remains of the Jedi Temple, it was a searing reminder of how his way of life had been erased in a single stroke.

The temple looked much like it had the last time he'd seen it. The bodies of his family were gone of course, but the blaster scars remained. It had clearly been abandoned in the intervening years and apparently the new government had not yet found the time to restore it. Not that it was probably a priority. Who would they restore it for?

Obi Wan had spent all but the last two days of this timeline on Dagobah, in Luke's enforced isolation, so all he knew was the sketchy details that Luke had provided for him. Palpatine and Anakin had been thwarted, fairly recently, and a new government was in place. It gave him some measure of comfort to know that. It allowed him to concentrate on the matter at hand. Hunting Jessie down and…..and what?

He cast off the thought and decided he would think of that once he actually had a chance of finding her. He weaved his way into the temple, avoiding the caution beacons and few guards that he encountered. He knew that if Jessie could travel through time at will he had no chance of finding her on his own unless he learned how to do so as well. It would have been a far simpler matter to stay with Luke who seemed to have the ability to actually open rifts but he needed to do this alone; not under the worried gaze of Jessie's brother.

So Obi Wan carefully made his way down to the Jedi archives. He was unhurried. He had disabled the communications and the engine of Luke's ship before he left. If he and Han could fix it, it would take several days. If they couldn't, then Luke had mentioned that Leia knew where they were and she would eventually look for them.

He searched for every bit of information that he could find on time rifts and time travel. Everything and anything that would help him learn the skill. He knew that some of the more unique skills some Jedi's possessed they were predispositioned to. That would make sense since both Jessie and Luke (and no doubt Leia) could manipulate time to varying degrees. But it didn't matter. Obi Wan would learn and he would learn quickly. Because there was no chance, no possibility, that he would fail. He was going to find Jessie if it was the last thing that he did.


	16. Passion

When Jess woke up she was only a breath's distance from Obi Wan. He was still sleeping and he looked so peaceful that it made her heart ache. She reached out and let her fingertips gently graze his forehead, sliding them down the side of his face and finally along his tender bottom lip. Without opening his eyes, he lifted his hand and caught hers, intertwining their fingers. Then he smiled and he opened his eyes.

"Is this my heaven or your hell," she asked.

"Does it matter?"

"Not in the least," she replied, leaning forward to brush her lips over his, afraid that any movement too abrupt would burst the bubble she was in.

He seemed to be under the same impression as he tentatively ran his fingers up her arm, leaving a line of goosebumps in their wake. When he ran them along her neck she sighed with intense pleasure and tilted her head. He leaned forward and moved his lips carefully along the graceful curve of her throat up to her jaw, tickling her with his beard, so gently it was like he was torturing her with a feather.

When he reached her ear her entire body began to tremble.

"Careful now," he whispered. "You don't want to wake up."

* * *

Jessie opened her eyes abruptly and mumbled: "Damn."

"Too much hair."

Jess twitched at the sound of the unnerving childlike voice and turned her head. River was crouched on her sink, staring at her with her wide, dark eyes.

"Right," she mumbled as she sat up, her stomach already protesting having gone six hours without food. Jess had discovered that as long as she didn't have an empty stomach she only felt sick to her stomach, instead of praying for death. "I need something to eat before…"

River chucked an apple at her and Jessie plucked it out of the air.

"The seeds needs protein."

Jessie nodded and bit into the fruit. _At least this time it's not a four-inch blade_, she thought, glancing at the scar River's last gift had left in the wall.

"We need to train," River insisted.

Jessie nodded and climbed out of bed, having learned not to argue with her.

* * *

Jess didn't use her Jedi abilities very often. In fact, her time with Obi Wan was the most she'd ever used them. It was the one time she'd felt safe using them. She also usually refrained because she never knew how people would react to them. On Galactica they would have assumed she was a cylon. Plus, if she got into a dangerous situation it was fun to shrug off the helpless victim façade and stomp the shit out of them.

So as she sparred with River she didn't use anything that wouldn't be considered normal athletic ability. And it was difficult because River was freakin amazing. She looked like a sprite and she moved like one to. Fast, agile, deadly. And totally in control. She could have pummeled Jess into the ground if she wanted to but she always stopped herself, snapping off punches like light slaps.

And each time River did touch her the landscape around them changed. First it was a Mars-like place, red sand stretched for miles in every direction. Tap, and they were amongst some ancient ruins. Tap, and they were in a field of day glo colored daisies. For some reason, Jessie could see into River's head and it was an extremely odd place to be.

Zoe and Wash stood on the catwalk watching River and Jessie down below on the dock, both fighting one another with the same glassy eyed look, like neither were seeing what everyone else was. Wash shook his head.

"I never thought I'd see someone keep up with River."

"Whatever is chasing her must be pretty damn scary," Zoe remarked.

Wash glanced at his wife and then across the way to where Mal was watching the same scene with an equal amount of suspicion. He sighed. Of course if Mal didn't approve of someone Zoe wouldn't either. But he couldn't see what Mal had against Jess. They were used to shady characters. _They_ were shady characters. But for some reason Mal had a special aversion to Jess that Wash simply couldn't understand. Of course he admitted that he might have been biased. Warrior women turned him on.

* * *

The day glo color of the landscape was starting to make Jessie nauseous so she put her hands up and River halted her attack. And the room shimmered back into the reality of the docking bay.

"Too much color," River asked.

Jessie bent over and tried to catch her breath. "Yes."

River nodded. "It's nice, you know, sharing a brain."

Then she skipped away, as graceful as a ballerina, passed a baffled looking Inara. Jess gave a weak wave and then sat down on the nearest cargo container. Keeping active helped her body feel more normal and her mind busy but she got exhausted much more quickly.

"You can understand her, can't you," Inara's lilting voice asked.

"About half of it," Jessie replied, rubbing her neck.

"That's quite a bit more then the rest of us. I wonder why that is."

Jessie shrugged and looked at Inara dressed so elegantly, smelling so beautifully. She was the exact opposite of everything else on Serenity.

"You're a companion, aren't you," Jessie asked. Since courtesans were highly respected in this timeline she was surprised at how startled Inara got when she asked.

"Yes," she replied slowly. "Why?"

"I'd like to pay for some of your services."

Above them, neither woman noticed how Mal's jaw snapped shut like a steel trap.

* * *

"You have wonderful hands," Jess remarked, as Inara's fingertips gently slid down her spine, sending ripples of pleasure through her.

"Thank you," Inara replied. "It's been a while since all that someone paid me for was a massage. I can see why you did though. You have an incredible amount of tension."

Jess sighed. "You have no idea."

"All done," Inara replied, gliding her fingertips down her back one more time.

Her skin still tingling, Jessie sat up carefully on the massage table and Inara handed her her clothes.

"All of the workouts with River have been fatiguing. I really appreciate your help," she remarked, noting that the workouts weren't helping her expanding waistline as she tried to button her pants.

"Do you think that's wise? Working out so vigorously with River. I know she wouldn't intentionally hurt you but--"

"Oh I don't know, she wasn't exactly holding back when she hurled that knife at my head."

"She hurled a knife at your head?"

"That's how she said hello," Jessie remarked, struggling with the buttons of her shirt and wondering why. Then she looked at her hands and realized how fat they looked.

"Let me," Inara said, walking over to her and taking hold of the ends of her shirt. "Water retention," she said carefully and Jessie stiffened. Inara continued speaking without looking up from her task. "You certainly don't have to speak to me about it but you probably should have mentioned it before I gave you the massage. There are certain techniques that will induce labor."

Jessie swallowed. She wasn't showing very much yet but it was probably foolish to think with Inara running her hands over her body that she wouldn't notice.

"Perhaps you should speak to Simon though--" Inara was in the middle of saying when Mal stomped into the room. He stopped short when he saw Inara helping Jessie redress and his face darkened murderously.

Jessie clamped the rest of her shirt closed and Inara turned on him furiously.

"Mal, how many times have I told you that you can't just come in without so much as knocking?"

"And how many times have I told you that you are not allowed to service any of my passengers?"

"Another rule," Jessie mumbled, "perhaps you should join the Alliance seeing as you're so fond of those."

The black look that crossed his face actually made Inara gasp but Jessie just stared at him rebelliously. Clenching both fists, he turned and stormed out and both women could hear him knocking things over as he went.

"Does he just hate me with that much passion, or is it everyone?" Jessie asked. She glanced at Inara and realized that she was studying her speculatively.

"There's passion there, but I think you may have misjudged the hate part."

* * *

Obi Wan loved the feel of her skin. He slipped his hand under her shirt and ran his fingers over the planes of her stomach. She arched her back and shuttered. He loved it when she did that.

"May I," he asked quietly, and Jessie nodded.

He shifted lower, away from watching her face and how she reacted when he touched her, to level with her stomach. Carefully, he took the ends of her shirt and started rolling the material up. He stopped at just below her breasts and then he looked down at her stomach. It wasn't as flat as it had once been. He ran his fingers over the small protrusion that you wouldn't be able to see if still covered. Jessie arched her back again and let out a little gasp. He leaned over and kissed her skin. Then he tipped his head and put his ear to the protrusion.

* * *

Obi Wan woke with a start.

"Damn."

An alarm was going off in the other room and he lifted his hand and silenced it. He knew without looking that it was just another pleading message from Luke, or an obscenity laced one from Han, asking him to contact them. He buried his head back in his arms and tried to go back to sleep. After a few minutes he knew the effort was futile and he stood up and stretched out his aching muscles. He'd fallen asleep at the table again, his notes and data all laid out in front of him.

In the beginning he'd gone days without sleep, not wanting to waste even a moment away from his research. But eventually that caught up with him and he was finding himself just dropping unconscious.

He walked stiffly into the cockpit and saw that it was a notice, but not from Luke or Han this time. It was a public notice that Han Solo's famous Millenium Falcon had been stolen and anyone with any information regarding it's whereabouts were to contact the authorities immediately.

Obi Wan cursed quietly and dropped heavily into the captain's chair. He hadn't realized that the Falcon was such a recognizable ship when he stole it. One of the reasons he'd taken it was because it looked like a common smuggling ship that wouldn't draw much attention. Now he was going to have to ditch it for another one.

His eyelids started to drag down as he contemplated his next move. This time he resisted. He needed to find Jessie. He had to find her. It had been nearly two months since she'd vanished and he could all but hear the time ticking away. She was more then three months pregnant now and he was no closer to learning how to detect time rifts then he was at the start. He pried his eyes open, determined to go back and read some more, and there they were.

Five colored ribbons wafting in the stillness of space like they were caught in a light breeze. They weren't as vivid as the ones he'd seen through Jessie's eyes, but they were unmistakable. He leaned forward in the seat and he could feel his heart rate accelerate in his chest. He reached out and ran his finger along the color he remembered. Green. Then he sat back and slammed the engines into gear, barreling toward the green rift and where Jessie was hiding.


	17. On the rise

Jess had seen some _really_ odd things in her life. This was perhaps the oddest. She walked slowly through the room, observing each scene with amusement.

There was Wash, arms circled around Zoe, singing robustly in her ear. _"With my freeze ray I will stop the pain. It's not a death ray or an ice beam--that's all Johnny Snow. I just think you need time to know that I'm the guy to make it real, the feelings you don't dare to feel. I'll bend the world to our will and we'll make time stand still…."_

Then there was Kaylee, holding Simon's hands, singing earnestly into his wide eyed wonder: _"Here's the story of a girl who grew up lost and lonely, thinking love was fairytale and trouble was made only for me. Even in the darkness every color can be found. And every day of rain brings water flowing to things growing in the ground…"_

Even Jayne, all muscled and decked out in his favorite weapons seemed to be enjoying himself: _"Everyone's a hero in their own way. Everyone's got villains they must face. They're not as cool as mine, but folks, you know it's fine to know your place. Everyone's a hero in their own way. In their own not-that-heroic way."_

Perhaps the funniest was Mal, standing on a box, arms spread wide in an over dramatic posture singing to Inara: _"A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Seems destiny ends with me saving you. When you're the best, you can't rest, what the use? There's ass needs kicking, some ticking bomb to defuse. The only doom that's looming is you loving me to death…"_

But Shepard Book startled her with his song: _"It's a brand new day, yeah the sun is high. All the angels sing because you're gonna die. Go ahead and laugh. Yeah I'm a funny guy, Tell everyone goodbye..it's a brand new day."_

Then River walked gracefully by singing a song like a death dirge: _"Look at these people--amazing how sheep'll show up for the slaughter. No one condemning you --lined up like lemmings you led to the water. Why can't they see what I see? Why can't they hear the lies? Maybe the fee's too pricey for them to realize. Your disguise is slipping. I think you're slipping…"_

River was the only one that looked at Jess. She seemed to be the only one that was aware of anyone other then herself. Jess was about to speak to her when Obi Wan bumped into her. He smiled, bemused, and was about to ask, she knew, what was going on. And just as suddenly, Jessie knew he shouldn't speak. That he'd have no more control over what came out of his mouth then anyone else here. She shook her head but she was too late. He opened his mouth and suddenly a cloud of anger spread across his face and he was swept up in the same current as everyone else. His voice sang out in anguish.

_"Listen close to everybody's heart and hear that breaking sound. Hopes and dreams are shattering apart and crashing to the ground. I cannot believe my eyes, how the world's filled with filth and lies. But it's plain to see--evil inside of me, is on the rise."_

Jessie took a step back, opened her mouth to make him stop but then a strange serenity came over her and she looked around the room and all the people in it: _"Look around, we're living with the lost and found. Just when you feel you've almost drown you find yourself on solid ground and you believe there's good in everybody's heart. Keep it safe and sound. With hope, you can do your part, to turn a life around." _

She wrapped her arms around her stomach, around her baby, and she felt a warm glow envelop her. _"I cannot believe my eyes, is the world finally growing wise? Cause it seems to me, some kind of harmony, is on the rise."_

Then they were singing in harmony, the same tune but very different words:

_Anyone with half a brain _

_Could spend their whole life howling in pain _

_Cause the dark is everywhere _

_And she doesn't seem to care _

_That soon the dark in me is all that will remain _

_Listen close to everybody's heart _

_And hear that breaking sound _

_Hopes and dreams are shattering apart _

_And crashing to the ground _

_I cannot believe my eyes _

_How the world's filled with filth and lies _

_But it's plain to see_

_Evil inside of me is on the rise..._

_..._

_Take it slow_

_He looks at me and seems to know_

_The things that I'm afraid to show_

_And suddenly I feel this glow_

_And I believe_

_There's good in everybody's heart_

_Keep it safe and sound_

_With hope, you can do your part_

_To turn a life around_

_I cannot believe my eyes_

_How the world's finally growing wise_

_And it's plain to see_

_Rapture inside of me, is on the rise..._

* * *

Jess sat in the dining room on Serenity eating in silence. She still had that strange dream in her head. She knew pregnant women were prone to unusual dreams but she had never heard of one where they composed complex musicals in their unconscious state. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that it surprised her when she realized most of the rest of the crew had trickled in and joined her. They had each ghosted in, as quiet and thoughtful as she was. Vaguely she wondered what had them so introspective when Jayne walked in. In contrast, he was smiling and walking with a skip in his step. He went to the refrigerator and started groping inside of it. He was singing to himself and chuckling.

"Everyone's a hero in their own way. In their own not-that-heroic way."

Everyone in the room jolted in their seat like they'd been shocked with a cattle prod. When Jayne turned around, he found all eyes on him.

"What?" he asked.

"Jayne," Wash said with an awkward squeak in his voice. "Where did you hear that song?"

"I had a dream about it. Catchy isn't it? Hey, you were in it too. All' o you. You should have heard the song Mal was singing."

"Jayne," Jess said sharply, cutting off everyone else who raised a question. "Was there someone else in the dream? Someone you didn't know?"

"Just the guy with the beard."

Jess felt her legs just vanish out from beneath her. Mal caught her before she hit the floor. Part of her was aware of he and Simon helping her to Simon's medical room but her mind was raging with all the possible explanations. She picked one up, discarded it, moved on.

"Jess, I need to examine you OK," she heard Simon ask slowly, like he was talking to a child.

She nodded but didn't pay any attention to what he was doing. Obi Wan was in the past. Luke had sent him there. The fact that she was alive meant he did go back. So he couldn't be here.

She felt pressure on her stomach and then it ended abruptly.

"Jess?" Simon's voice again, annoyingly interruptive. "Are you pregnant?"

She nodded and heard someone across the room swear. Mal was still there. She ignored that. Was last night's dream the only one that had been real? Or had they all been real? Could he really reach across that much time to touch her? His voice echoed hollowly in her ears: Evil inside of me, is on the rise.

She felt something cold on her stomach.

"Is the baby alright?" Inara asked.

"You knew about it?" Mal thundered.

Maybe she was doing it. Maybe in her subconscious she had done what she couldn't do in reality. She'd reached out to him. No, she wasn't nearly that powerful. Which left only one possibility. He was here. In her time. Maybe in the very universe she was hiding in. She felt a surge of panic claw through her. She had to go. She had to run.

Then she heard the hollow, far away thumping, like the fluttering of butterfly wings. She looked down and saw that Simon was running an ultrasound machine over her stomach. She looked over at the monitor that he was studying.

"Is that the baby's heartbeat?" She whispered.

Simon gave a start when she spoke, then nodded.

"That's one of them," he said, and he shifted the machine on her stomach. "And that's the other one."

A slightly stronger fluttering filled the room.

Jessie stared at the monitor, unable to discern anything that looked like a baby on the screen.

"Twins," she whispered. "Of course."

Simon seemed relieved that Jess was responsive again.

"We won't be able to determine sex for a while but--"

"A boy and a girl," Jessie said. "Leia had a boy and a girl."

* * *

Jess walked quietly into the cockpit, her head still far away, still planning. She wasn't panicked any more. Just determined. Wash was sitting in one chair, rearranging his dinosaur display. Mal was sitting silently in the other.

"Mal, can I speak to you for a minute?"

Wash looked up and gave her a big goofy grin. He seemed more thrilled then anybody about her pregnancy. Mal didn't even look up.

"You planning on opening a daycare center right here," he asked, "because I can't think of a better place to raise a child. This side of hell anyway."

Jessie crossed her arms and grinned mirthlessly.

"A man's gotta do, what a man's gotta do…" she sang quietly. Wash put his fist in his mouth to keep from laughing and Mal's head shot up and he glared at her. Wash took that as his cue to vacate the cockpit and Jessie sat down in his empty chair.

"I swear something evil has put you here to torture me for my past sins," he growled. "Are you the one responsible for kareoke night?"

Jess sighed. "I don't know. Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"If I was I didn't do it intentionally. Trust me."

"I'd just assume trust a reaver with a newborn."

Jessie let out a growl of her own and stood up.

"Why are you so -- you," she cried in frustration. "God if you weren't quite so jaded I could almost mistake you for Han."

"Han a bitter enemy?"

"No, he's married to my sister." And that brought her up short. She looked at Mal and her eyes got wide. Both men had the same dark hair, dark eyes, relatively same attitude although Han was less acidic. They both even flew around in spaceships that looked like they were going to fall out of the sky at any moment. "Crap."

She sank back into the chair, shell-shocked.

"You hate him too?" Mal asked.

"No," she mumbled, shaking her head. "I'm quite fond of Han."

"You gonna pass out again?"

"Wish I could," she mumbled, rubbing her forehead.

"Maybe it's not a physical type doctor that you need."

Jessie looked up at him and smiled, this seemed to unsettle Mal the most.

"Have you ever had your life flash before your eyes?" She asked sincerely. He nodded cautiously, unsure of her new attitude. "I think I just did. Not the life I have though. The life I may have had. If I hadn't met him first." She looked at him and sighed. "You're my Han Solo."

"What?"

Jessie smiled sadly and sat forward.

"It doesn't matter. Not anymore. I need you to take me to Jiangyin."

Mal blinked in confusion. He was still trying to figure out the thread of their last conversation.

"What's in Jiangyin?"

"I have no idea. But it's the closest planet where I can get a ship of my own."

* * *

"I can't believe you're leaving," Kaylee said as she walked along side Jess through the arid spaceport. Kaylee had insisted on going with Jessie to help her pick out a ship and River had shadowed them. Jess had picked out a serviceable vehicle that Kaylee agreed was in good enough shape. They were headed back to Serenity so Jess could pick up her belongings.

"I stayed a lot longer then I planned, Kaylee."

"Too long," River said, on her other side.

"River!" Kaylee chided.

"It's her own fault," River replied. "I did it all but they wouldn't ever talk. They would only sing."

Jessie turned to River.

"Sing?" She asked. "It was you. You were the one that manipulated my dreams?"

"I tried to make you hear each other."

"That was really him," she asked, her body shivering even in the hot sun. "How could you reach him?"

"He's closer then you think."

Jess felt the world around her sway.

"Jess, you ok?"

She took a deep breath and then nodded.

"Just the heat. Let's go," she said and she picked up the pace back to Serenity.

"So are you set on that model you're gonna get?" Kaylee asked. "I think that cruiser would suit you just fine."

"The cruiser is too big. I don't need much, I'm not going very far." Jessie said, distracted by her swirling thoughts.

"But it was sooo pretty," Kaylee continued to gush. "Oooo, like that one."

Jessie absently looked up and stopped dead in her tracks. Kaylee was looking at the Millenium Falcon.

* * *

Author's note: Ok, I was inspired by the "_My Eyes_" song on the Dr. Horrible soundtrack. Then I realized a lot of the songs fit the personalities of the Serenity crew so I made the dream an entire musical number. I really recommend you check out the website () to get the feel of the real music, especially _"My Eyes_" which is the first song of Act II. (I can totally see Ewan MacGregor pulling it off) You can also see "Mal" singing_ "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do"_ and I guarantee that'll make the trip worth it.

Oh yes, and next time Obi Wan finally finds Jessie.


	18. Shattered

It was probably a hundred yards away but it was unmistakable, the Millennium Falcon, sitting unassumingly amongst all the other ships lined up on this dusty, nondescript planet. Jessie's heart filled up at the sight of it. The Falcon meant Han. Han meant Luke. She laughed when she realized that they were the ones she was running from and here she was, ready to launch up the ramp calling their names. She took a tentative step toward it, deciding what she wanted to do. Then River started singing softly beside her.

"The devil inside, the devil inside, every single one of us the devil inside"

Jessie felt her blood freeze in her veins. She whirled on River.

"Where did you hear that!" She demanded.

River raised a slender finger and pointed at the Falcon.

"He can't get it out of his head, no matter how hard he tries."

Jessie's head snapped toward the ship. She felt the terror creeping into her body like a living thing. Then she could feel him--the dark and angry creature she had created. The panic exploded inside of her. She grabbed Kaylee by the arm and jerked her back in the direction they'd come.

"Go!" She shouted.

Kaylee's eyes widened in confusion but River grabbed her hand and sprinted into the transient crowd of people behind them. Jessie ran after them, following the zigzag path that River created.

* * *

Obi Wan was getting ready to leave. He had found some compatible fuel for the Falcon and was readying the ship to take off when he felt her. He couldn't believe it. He'd been roving around the universe without any idea of where to look next when he'd stopped on a dusty little planet to refuel. But when he sensed her there was no doubt in his mind that it was her. He remembered the way she felt like it was a bittersweet taste in his mouth. She was close, achingly close, and he felt her spike on excitement.

_She's stumbled across the Falcon._

He turned heel and ran for the gangplank. As he did so, he felt her mood shift suddenly to panic and numbing fear.

_She knows it's me and not Han or Luke in here._

Her reaction to him sent a stabbing pain through his abdomen. He slid down the metal surface and scanned the crowd in front of him. He couldn't see her but he could still feel her in the distant crowd somewhere.

She was running.

He clenched his teeth and launched into the crowd after her. There were more people on the narrow streets then he remembered and all of them seemed intent on blocking his way. And most of them seemed to be carrying something large to further obscure his view. He sent people tumbling left and right as he carved a path. He refrained from doing any high leaps because he was afraid it would alert her to where he was more then the other way around.

He finally entered a square where the people were not so compacted because several lanes branched off from it. Which branch she had gone through he didn't know. He couldn't lose her here. Not when he was not only on the same planet but in the same town. His eyes searched every face, looking for her, instead they stopped abruptly on two faces that impossibly he did recognize.

They were from his dream and they were impossible to mistake. She was tall, with ebony skin and chocolate eyes. She had the strong confident stance of a soldier. And he was a complete contrast. Blue eyed, blond, relaxed, and wearing a shockingly outlandish shirt. He had been singing some ridiculous song to her about a freeze ray…

But that had been a feverish dream and the people in it couldn't be real. Unless….

He watched as they moved away from a vendor and he slipped behind a woman that was walking behind them. He could hear them talking.

"..a little girl," he said brightly. "I could teach her to fly and you could teach her how to kill a man with her thumbs."

She laughed softly.

"When the time is right…"

"Aw, come on, when is the time ever going to be right? Look at Jessie…"

Obi Wan's head snapped up. So it had been her. She had somehow reached inside his head again.

"Exactly," the woman replied sternly. "Look at Jessie."

* * *

River reached Serenity first. She let go of Kaylee's hand and turned and stood like a sentinel a few yards in front of it. Kaylee stumbled to a stop, her eyes wild with fear. Jessie blew by both of them, up the ramp to where Mal was standing at the top of it.

Mal was about to demand to know what was going on when Jessie stopped in front of him. She was gasping for air and her hair was plastered to her face with her sweat.

"Go Mal. Get everyone out of here, now!"

Mal reached out and moved aside some of her hair from in front of her eyes. What he saw there was something he'd never expected to see. Terror. And then her eyes got even wider and she reached out and grabbed his shoulder with one hand and her throat with the other. She started choking like someone had a hand around her throat.

* * *

Obi Wan followed the couple through a lane that opened up to another line of space vessels. He held back, in the shadows of a bar, and watched them saunter toward a vessel that resembled a bug. They stopped abruptly when they saw two women, two others that had been in the dream. But Obi Wan didn't linger on them long, instead his eyes travelled to the ship, where a man was tenderly brushing the hair off of Jessie's face.

And then everything turned red.

It was like someone had splashed a can of blood on everything in front of him. And he reached his hand out without thought….

* * *

Jessie couldn't breathe. Mal grabbed her by the arms, trying to see what was wrong. As soon as he did the pressure increased.

_Ben, please….._

She turned her head and saw him. When he stepped forward it was like he stepped into a spotlight and every feature in his face, every tense muscle in his body, screamed his rage louder then if he were actually howling at her. She saw what she had transformed him into and she was grateful when darkness started seeping into her vision. She didn't want to see any more.

Then Mal let go of her and she stumbled. Then she heard the blast of his gun. The grip on her throat was gone and she was able to gasp enough air to shout: "Mal, no!"

Who she was trying to protect she wasn't sure. But then she heard the ominous buzz of a lightsaber. She would rather rip her eyes out then look at him again but they went searching for Obi Wan of their own accord. She watched his eyes shift, with the deadly intent of a sniper, from herself to Mal.

"Mal, run."

He shook his head.

"I don't run."

Obi Wan stalked toward them and Serenity itself started to vibrate.

"OK, I'm running," Mal said, and before she knew it, he grabbed her hand and yanked her after him. Jessie hadn't intended that, sticking with her was only going to get him killed. He pulled her off the ramp and a few feet away before she pulled herself free of his grasp.

"Mal, go!" She hissed and she turned to face what was her fate only. Obi Wan was still stalking toward her and than River flew at him, taking him so by surprise that she knocked him flat on his back. She turned toward Jessie.

"Go," she said. "I've trained."

And that's when Jess realized that River hadn't wanted Jessie to train for this confrontation, she had wanted to train with Jess to prepare herself for it. She stared at them, her mind numb, not wanting to leave River to this either. But then Mal grabbed her arm and started dragging her again and she turned and went with him. She could feel Obi Wan's anger duplicate and she prayed River would be all right.

As she ran, the swirl of fear and self loathing were close to overwhelming her and she knew, if she was going to get the Serenity crew out of this she had to focus, to come up with a plan. Then she would worry about herself. She realized that she and Mal were headed in the general direction from where she'd already come and an idea formulated. When Mal veered left, she yanked him back, let go of his hand, and took the lead. She led him back to the Falcon. Unfortunately, she had no weapon to speak of.

"Shoot it," she managed to gasp, cringing at how Han was going to react when he found out. "It's his ship, disable it."

Mal nodded and took free reign as he fired at anything that looked like it might be important. Then Jess sensed Obi Wan again, headed in their direction. She grabbed Mal and pulled him away, down a separate alley. Then she halted, and pushed Mal against a wall.

"Listen to me," she tried to choke out, breathless. "I'm going to lead him away. Get the crew back on Serenity and get out of here. He should leave you alone and follow me. I'm sorry I got you involved in this, Mal."

And then she turned and disappeared down the nearest alley. Her only objective was to lead Obi Wan away from Serenity. So she just continued to run. She tried not to think about what happened to River, she tried not to think about what would happen to Mal if Ben came across him. All her focus was on escape. She didn't even have any idea of where she was going, except that she was running away from Serenity. She dodged into a building, and flew up the stairs. She didn't stop until she was on a rooftop. She could feel his fury crashing like waves behind her. She leaped to the next roof and then the next. She was certain her lungs were on fire.

Then she came to the end of the row of buildings and nothing but miles of sand lay before her. No place to hide. She hesitated only a second and decided to leap down anyway and perhaps double back, but a second was all he needed. She leaped and hit an invisible, but no less solid, wall. She bounced backwards, and hit the rooftop with skin shredding intensity. Instantly her hands wrapped around her stomach--her children--and something finally beat back the drowning fear. Anger.

She flipped over, her hands and legs stretched out like a cat. If he wanted to punish her that was one thing. Her babies were another matter entirely. And she knew that he knew she was pregnant. If the dreams had been real then he had to know. He was walked toward her, his lightsaber still buzzing ominously.

"Hello darling," he said with a grim smile.

She smiled back.

"Hello, love," she replied, cautiously climbing to her feet, eyes taking in everything that was on the roof. It was flat but warped in places from the heat. The ledge circling the perimeter was crumbling and there were a few discarded tools lying around. Not much to work with but she'd make do. She knew she couldn't defeat him. Her only hope was escape.

"I'm unarmed you know." She raised her arms to show she was defenseless.

He looked her up and down and shook his head.

"You're _never_ unarmed, my love."

So he did think she'd seduced him on purpose.

"So this is it then?" She used the Force to hurl one of the tools at his head. He deflected it without a glance. "You're going to discard everything you are, everything you've ever believed in--for this?"

"Oh you already took care of that," he charged her and she waited as long as she could before she dodged out of the way, sending her elbow into the back of his head as he passed. She whirled and they were facing each other again.

"I never lied to you," she said, fighting back the fear again, trying to focus on what she was protecting.

"You didn't?" He asked in a deadly whisper.

She felt bile creeping up her throat. There had only been one thing that she'd truly lied to him about. She reached out with the Force and pushed him back, and then turned, trying to make it off the rooftop again. This time he didn't throw up any blocks, he simply came up behind her and pulled her back against his chest with crushing force. His arm went around her shoulders, pinning her back to him. When he spoke, his voice was a deadly whisper in her ear.

"I watched Padme die, Jessie."

She shook her head and tears sprang to her eyes. She dug her nails into his arm but he didn't seem to notice.

"Please don't…." she whispered.

"She gave birth to Luke and then to Leia and then she _died_."

He pushed her away from him and she landed hard on her knees. She covered her ears but his voice become thunderously loud.

"You're not Leia's sister. You're her _clone_."


	19. Palpatine's Weapon

Jessie cringed as if he'd beaten her with the word and she let out an anguished sob. Obi Wan would have injured her less if he'd stabbed her through her heart with his lightsaber. Her body started to burn from the inside with every other truth that she knew about herself.

_Nothing but a clone._

_A copy. Not real. _

_A science experiment._

_Palpatine's science experiment._

_Palpatine's weapon._

She could hear nothing else. Not even the roar of Serenity's engines as she swooped down dangerously low overhead. Not the gun battle, nor the buzzing of the lightsaber. She was barely aware of being slung over Jayne's shoulder and the swooping sensation of a quick ascent.

The burning only continued as she was lowered to the floor, as she felt Serenity's engines kick in underneath her. She curled into a ball, trying to force the flames back, but she was being burned alive. Finally she threw her head back and screamed….

* * *

And millions of miles away, in a different time altogether, Princess Leia Organa Solo, lost consciousness on the floor of the senate.

When she awoke in her quarters, it was to a group of concerned faces and she waved them away almost angrily. She sat up and felt a wave of vertigo but she gritted her teeth against it.

"Get Wedge Antilles in here now!"

* * *

Wedge had been in more battles then he could count. He'd participated in the destruction of both Death Stars and as he stood outside of Leia's quarters he had never been so scared. He cringed when the door opened and Leia was waiting for him, her arms crossed and her eyes blazing.

"Where are they?" She demanded.

Wedge's voice shook when he replied: "Who?"

Her voice took on a deadly whisper: "My husband and my brother."

His mouth started moving like a fish out of water but no words came out.

"I know about the secret mission that they are on, Wedge. And I know they've been avoiding me. Ignoring my communications even when I heard about the Falcon getting stolen. Now I know why. Tell me where they are."

* * *

"What do you mean you lost him!?" Leia demanded, and both Luke and Han cringed.

As she paced the room Luke made a mental note to speak to Wedge in the near future.

"Those Jedi are tricky bastards," Han mumbled.

Leia stopped pacing.

"He found her," she said quietly. "He found her and he tried to kill her."

"What?" Both men cried.

Leia closed her eyes and nodded. The images were splintered but the feelings they invoked were crystal clear.

"He wouldn't do that," Luke said, but he looked from Leia to Han and both looked grimly positive that he would. Luke swallowed hard. "Is she alright?"

"No, she isn't."

"What did he do to her?" Han asked, but Leia looked at Luke.

"You told him--about Jess?" They rarely used the term clone because of Jessie's reaction to it.

Luke nodded, a sickening feeling stirring inside him.

"He watched our mother die. He knew she couldn't be related to us biologically."

Leia didn't have to explain further. If Obi Wan had even mentioned it to Jess…..

"I'm going to find Jessie," Leia announced. "It will be easier for me. You find Obi Wan and pray that I don't come across him first."

* * *

Obi Wan was trying to mediate, trying to quiet the turmoil and the guilt. Especially the guilt. He would like to say that he didn't remember what he'd done, that he'd lost control so totally that it was a dark hole in his memory. But he remembered every excruciating detail.

He didn't have a plan for what he would do when he found Jessie. He realized now that he should have. That if he'd had a plan then things wouldn't have gone so hideously wrong. But nothing could have prepared him for what possessed him when he saw that man touching her.

Now he understood so clearly why Jedi's were forbidden to love. Because jealously was a catastrophic emotion. It hadn't been lost on him, either, how his reaction had mirrored Anakin's on Mustafar. Obi Wan had been so horrified that Anakin could do that to the woman he loved, the woman caring his children…..

Obi Wan's covered his eyes with his hands but he could still see what he'd done. He could have killed both Jessie and his child. If her friend hadn't started firing on him he may have.

For all he knew, she _was_ dead. Padme had been one of the strongest women he'd ever met and he'd watched her die after an almost identical attack. Not from the attack itself but from a broken heart. But Jessie would have to love him for that to happen and he knew that wasn't the case. She wouldn't have run if she loved him. She wouldn't have taken up with someone else so quickly if she loved him. She wouldn't steal his child if she loved him.

Suddenly the conversation he'd had with Luke came starkly back to the forefront of him mind. One of the first things he'd asked when Luke had come for him on Tatooine.

_"Who is she?" Obi Wan demanded. _

_"What do you mean?" Luke replied, guarded. _

_"Jessie. I was at your birth, and Padme's death. Jessie is not your sister." _

_Luke was silent for a long time. It was a secret that he and Leia and Han had sworn to keep. Unfortunately, Obi Wan was the one living witness to the lie. _

_"When Bail Organa adopted a baby so suddenly and so soon after my mother's death, the Emperor became suspicious. He couldn't be sure that she was Padme's offspring and she was too well guarded and prominent to just kidnap. But he knew that any child of Anakin's would be powerful. So he did arrange to get a sample of her DNA."_

_The truth dawned on Obi Wan so powerfully that he almost staggered._

_"She's a clone."_

_Luke's breath caught but he nodded. _

_"I don't know how, but Bail learned that the Emperor had had his daughter cloned. It was extremely dangerous but he had her--Jessie--captured. In transport or at the facility, we're not sure. He had intended to destroy her. He couldn't have a replica of Leia running around, especially if she somehow manifested any Jedi powers. It would give Leia away. But the Emperor hadn't had Jessie's growth accelerated at all and when Bail captured her she was only six months old and he couldn't do it. Especially to a child that looked so much like his own daughter. So he took her to a far off planet. The farthest planet he could reach." _

_He didn't know why the knowledge came to him but it did. "Earth."_

_Luke was surprised but he nodded. _

_"She grew up there without any idea of who or what she was. She did know she was different but the family that raised her was pretty different too so it didn't faze her too much. Then the Empire captured Leia. While Vader was interrogating Leia for the whereabouts of some plans that she'd stolen, the Emperor was having Bail interrogated for the whereabouts of the secret project he suspected Bail had stolen from him years before. Threatening to kill his daughter and with the Death Star looming over Alderaan, Bail finally confessed to where Jessie was…"_

_"Death Star?"_

_Luke caught his breath, forgetting that all of that was still in Obi Wan's future. He shook his head and Obi Wan understood. It would have irritated him more but that wasn't the story he'd wanted to hear about._

_"The Emperor sent people out to find her and they did. They kidnapped her and were bringing her back but she escaped. Her other family had trained her well. Only she was stranded here, in a universe she hadn't even known existed. She was fifteen. After the fall of the Empire I came across some of the Emperor's project files. I found Jessie in them. I tracked her down. I wasn't sure what my intentions were. If she'd been created by the Emperor--"His voice trailed off in thought. "Then I met her and I couldn't--"_

_"Destroy her?"_

_Luke nodded. _

_"Why not?" Obi Wan got to his feet angrily. "I fought along side hundreds of clones for years. I respected all of them and even considered some of them my friends. And with a single order and not an ounce of regret they turned on me. They slaughtered the Jedi. My family."_

_"And that is the fear that she lives with every day of her life." _

Obi Wan had been sure of one thing as he searched for Jessie. He had wanted her to feel as much pain as she had inflicted on him. And from the way she had crumbled in front of him on that rooftop he was fairly certain that he had succeeded. And the anguish of that image of her was burned into him like a brand because he loved her--just as much as he hated her.

* * *

After the screaming stopped Jessie didn't move for two days. Not when Simon hooked her up to the I.V., not when Kaylee would come in and stroke her hair, not when Sheppard Book prayed over her, not when Mal would come in and argue with Simon.

"What did he do to her?"

"As far as I can tell, nothing. Except for a couple of scratches she's perfectly fine."

"I don't know what your definition of fine is, doctor, but it ain't the same as mine."

Finally, River decided to go look for her. Being familiar with her mind, she wasn't hard to find. She found her alone and cold, in a cell of her own making. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and she didn't acknowledge River when she came up to her.

"If the flower withers and dies, so will the petals," River said.

She held out a flower to Jess and then crushed it in her hand. She let the powdered remains trickle to the floor.

Jessie blinked.

"The seeds need you."

Jessie looked up at her.

"I don't know what to do for them," she whispered.

River opened her hand again and this time there was fat, blood infused leech on her palm.

"They need family."

Jessie opened her eyes.

The sickbay was quiet and the lights were dim. She guessed it was the middle of the night. River was standing a few feet away, watching her with interest. Her arm was in a sling.

"Thank you," Jessie said, her voice brittle.

"I'll miss your brain," she replied.

* * *

"Thanks again, Mal," Jess said, her voice still raw because her throat was. She had already said all of her goodbyes and apologies to everyone else. She'd saved the very worst for last. "The shuttle will get me to where I need to go."

"Which is where exactly?"

"Someplace safe. For my children anyway," she mumbled. She knew there wasn't a place safe for her any more. "The shuttle I bought on Jiangyin is comparable to yours. It should be safe for you to go back there. He knows I would never go back there."

"You ever going to tell what it was you did to that very angry man who tried to slaughter us all?"

Jessie smiled bleakly.

"I fell in love with him."

Mal nodded like that was the answer he expected.

"I can see how you would have that effect."

Jess laughed. Then her voice grew soft and serious.

"Mac, why did you come back for me? Why didn't you just take off, like I told you to?"

He reached out and ran the back of his hand down the side of her face. She caught her breath.

"Because you have that kind of effect," he mumbled.

Then he dropped his hand and walked away from her. Jessie took a shaky breath and walked into the shuttle. She sank into the command chair and sighed. She'd made a near fatal mistake by remaining on Serenity so long. It was not an error she could ever afford to make again.

* * *

Author's Note: Hi! Glad you all liked the Jessie "surprise". I hinted at it quite a bit throughout the story so I'm glad it still took you all by surprise. And if you happen to be reading the Twilight book series (and if you're not, then why not?) and you aren't finished with book four, I'm warning you now, there are some major spoilers in the next couple of chapters. If you're unfamiliar with it, don't worry, I guarantee you'll enjoy meeting the Cullens.


	20. The Cullens

PART 3

On the day that the twins were born it was uncharacteristically rainy in the small California town. Jessie looked out the window and wondered if the world was crying with her. As the nurse bustled in, she swept the tears off of her face and tried to smile. This was a happy day for most women.

The nurse smiled as she took her blood pressure and glanced at the babies, one wrapped in pink, the other in blue, sleeping peacefully in their bassinets.

"You should sleep while they're sleeping," she said.

Jessie nodded. She _was_ exhausted and the fact that she'd been in labor for 23 hours wasn't the least of it. She hadn't really slept in months. Because when she left Serenity she knew what she would have to do. Obi Wan would never stop looking for her and that put her children in danger. So she protected them and herself as best she could--jumping from timeline to timeline, galaxy to galaxy every few weeks to keep ahead of him. Not until she knew it was close to the time she would give birth did she take the biggest risk of all. She went home.

Earth.

It was a calculated risk. She knew Obi Wan might think to come to Earth but she was counting on him not knowing _when_.

"Is there anyone you want to call?" The nurse asked carefully. She probably saw single moms all the time but someone without any visitors at all was probably pretty rare.

Jess shook her head.

"My family are all--back East," she said with a dark chuckle.

The nurse nodded, not looking like she believed her. Then she gave a start and Jessie turned to see what she was looking at. Her duplicate, her twin, was standing in the door.

Tears filled Jessie's eyes and the nurse sighed in apparent relief. The desolate patient who wouldn't stop crying finally had a visitor.

Leia waited for the attendant to leave before crossing the room and gathering her sister in a long awaited hug.

"How did you find me?" Jess asked, clinging to her sister for dear life.

"It wasn't easy," Leia grumbled.

Then Jess stiffened in her arms and swung her head toward the door.

"He's not with you is he?"

"No! No, of course not."

Jess' anxiety went down but it was also mingled with a twinge of regret. Leia shook her head and pulled away. She stepped back and looked down on her niece and her nephew. She shook her head again, this time in wonder.

"They're beautiful Jessie."

"Yes, they are," she replied, still in awe of it all. "I wasn't supposed to be able to reproduce."

"Maybe that should tell you something," Leia replied, stroking the tender cheek of her niece.

"Tell me what?"

"That you're not what you think you are. That you're _more_ than you think you are."

"Or I'm exactly what I think I am."

Leia looked at her sister, who had turned her head to the window to stare at the rain.

"Maybe this was his plan all along," Jessie continued, her voice detached. "Maybe someone flipped that switch and activated me and I did just what he programmed me to do."

Leia stiffened. Jessie never said his name if she could avoid it but Leia knew who she was talking about. The Emperor.

"Maybe Ben--" her voice still trembled when she said his name. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Maybe Obi Wan was my objective. Maybe by meeting him it set off my programming."

"You're not a droid, Jess."

But she continued like Leia hadn't spoken, still captivated by the rain.

"Maybe my objective was to destroy one of the most powerful Jedi's in existence. One of his greatest enemies."

"Maybe that's a convenient excuse."

Jessie looked at her now, her eyes wide in disbelief.

"You screwed up Jess. You made mistake after mistake and that is a very human thing to do. Maybe you just messed up and it has nothing to do with the Emperor at all."

Jessie eyes filled with tears again and Leia sat on the bed beside her and took her hand.

"You and Luke just don't want to believe what I'm capable of," Jess whispered, her voice quivering, tears spilling down her cheeks.

"We just don't believe that you are the detonator that you think you are."

"But what if you're wrong," she whispered, broken. "What if you're wrong?"

* * *

Leia sat in the rocking chair next to the bed and watched as her nephew made fish faces with his mouth. Jess had slept for about half an hour but woke up, her eyes still red ringed and exhausted.

"Isn't Qui-Gon an odd name for here?" Leia asked, looking around the room, shaking her head at the backwater location that Jessie had decided to have her children. "And Padme, for that matter?"

Jess smiled.

"We're pretty close to Hollywood. Nobody even blinked an eye."

Leia had no idea what that meant but she didn't pursue it.

"What are you planning on doing now," she asked. "Last time I checked in Luke and Han hadn't found Obi Wan yet."

"I thought I'd go home and visit for a while," Jess said, and she pointed to a pad of paper that was resting on the nightstand. Leia frowned and handed it to Jess. She watched as her sister scratched out a note on it. Then, when she appeared satisfied she closed her eyes and Leia felt a shift in the Force. Jessie opened her eyes and read what she had written on the paper.

_"Dear Alice, I'm in the neighborhood and thought I'd stop by if that's all right. Please let me know if it's OK and if you're still in Washington. I have a favor to ask of you all. Love Jessie."_

Then she read off some numbers that Leia didn't understand. Jessie nodded her head when she was done and Leia felt the Force shift again. Then Jess ripped off the piece of paper, crumpled it up and tossed it into the nearest trashcan.

"That should do it."

"Do what?"

But then the hospital phone on the nightstand started ringing. With a grin Jessie reached over and picked it up.

"Hi Alice," she said.

Leia couldn't hear what the voice on the other end was saying but she could hear the chipper tone. It took a few moments before Jessie could get a word in edgewise.

"A few days. I'm in California." Jessie smiled at the response she received. "No, you don't have to meet me half way. I can make it on my own, thank you very much. You'll just have to be patient. But here--I'll give you a gift."

Leia felt the Force shift again and the voice on the phone squealed with such delight that Leia could hear it across the room.

"I'll see you soon. Tell everyone that I love them."

When Jess hung up Leia could feel her spirits had lifted a bit.

"What was that all about," she asked.

"Alice can see the future," Jessie explained. "But I can shield myself from it."

"So when I felt the Force shifting--"

"I was letting her see in. She's quite delighted."

"I could tell. What do you mean, she can see the future?"

Jessie smiled.

"My adopted family is quite--different."

* * *

As Jessie pulled in front of the white, three-story house, nestled amongst hundred year old trees, a feeling of well being seeped through her battered and bruised soul. She had not grown up in this house but it was home nonetheless. She looked out the windshield and saw that they were waiting for her.

"Wow," Leia said.

Jessie smiled. Yes, wow.

The Cullen's. Every one of them stunningly beautiful. Unnaturally so. Her father and mother--Carlisle and Esme, far too young looking to be her parents. Her three brothers, Emmett, Jasper and Edward. Greek gods. And her sisters--Rosalie, blond and runway model perfect and Alice, a pixie who was no less stunning. As they waited for her on the porch they looked like a magazine cover, showcasing nothing but their perfection. They looked exactly as she'd left them years ago, as if she'd only gone around the corner and back. She took comfort in knowing that here, nothing would ever change.

She opened her door and realized Leia was still staring at them, amazed. And Jessie knew that the Cullen's looks were the least of what made them amazing.

"Remember," she warned. "They're different."

Leia knew little to nothing about how Jess grew up. She had said that she had grown up in secret and it was hard for her to break that habit. So she had no idea what to expect. Of course, she had been taken aback when they first pulled up. The family waiting on the porch of the house were some of the most beautiful people she'd ever seen but there was also something unworldly about them as well. Aside from their matching perfection none of them actually looked related, they each had different color hair, but the same alabaster skin and gold tinted eyes.

In the few seconds that it took Leia to climb out of the car the family were no longer on the porch but either surrounding Jess and hugging her or unstrapping the babies from their car seats. Leia could feel relief and warmth and love pouring off of Jess in waves. She felt safe here.

Jess introduced them to her, and Leia was startled when she introduced her adoptive mother and father. They actually looked younger then Jess. They must have seen her stunned expression because they smiled sympathetically at her.

"We look much younger then we are," Esme said with a friendly smile.

They all smiled at her and seemed friendly enough but none of them reached out to shake her hand as she knew was the custom. Leia got the impression that they were afraid to touch her but they had no qualms at all about circling their arms around Jess or snuggling with the babies.

"Jess," the one Leia had been introduced to as Edward, said. "I want you to meet someone."

The front door opened and a woman carrying a young girl, perhaps three or four, walked out onto the porch. Like the others, they were both stunning.

"This is my wife Bella, and my daughter Renesmee."

Leia had never seen Jess look so stunned in her life. She simply blinked at the mother and child in astonishment. After a moment, she climbed up the stairs and glanced at the young woman then at the little girl.

"How is this possible," she asked. "I thought you couldn't--"

Edward put a hand on her shoulder.

"I thought you couldn't either."

And Jessie looked at him and they both smiled.

* * *

Leia watched her sister from the third story nursery window. Jess was in the backyard, by the river, fighting with her brother Emmett and it was completely evident why Jessie felt so safe here. Though they all still remained guarded around her, not to scare her, Jessie explained, the family was starting to let their true natures show through. For instance, as she watched, Jessie was dazzling with her Jedi skills in the yard below the window. Her training with Obi Wan was evident. She was doing amazingly high flips and defensive moves and she still didn't stand a chance.

Emmett was the largest of the entire family and clearly the most intimidating but it seemed to be his unnatural speed, not his size that gave him his advantage. All Leia had to do was blink and she'd miss him streak from one side of the yard to the other. He also had incredible strength, as was demonstrated when he ripped a sapling out of the ground to defend himself against Jessie's lightsaber.

"Ooo, break out the glowing sword if you're scared," he taunted.

Most of the family was lounging in the grass around them, watching the match.

"Emmett, please be careful," Esme said. "Your sister is only human."

"She's _never_ been only human," he laughed.

To Leia's surprise Jessie laughed as well. Jessie's mood had improved a hundred fold since they'd arrived. She had finally started to sleep, and all through the night because as soon as one of the babies so much as stirred, day or night, someone, usually Esme or Rosalie, was scooping them up in the next instant. The Cullen's didn't appear to sleep. And they doted on Jessie like she was still a little girl, though clearly, and bafflingly, she was older then most of them. One of them always seemed to be cooking something and putting it in front of her, though none of them ate anything at all. Which made Leia wonder what they did when they disappeared into the forest from time to time.

"This must be very strange for you."

Leia gave a start and turned to find Carlisle Cullen standing behind her. They also moved in near silence, she noted mentally.

"You could say that," she replied.

He smiled.

"You have to forgive us. The one law that we have to abide by is that we can't say exactly what we are. It would be most dangerous to Jessie if it were found out that she was the one that revealed us. We ingrained that into her from the time she could understand." His smile dimmed a little. "She learned her tendency to hide from us I think."

He leaned down to look at his grandson and Leia looked back out into the yard.

"How did you know Bail," she asked.

Carlisle chuckled.

"He crashed his space ship in my backyard."

Leia looked back at him with a raised eyebrow.

"It was many, many years ago, when he was still a young man, exploring the universe, he said. That was a very eye opening day." He smiled and moved over to the window, next to Leia. "I enjoyed meeting your father very much. He had an amazing strength of character. I suppose he must have thought well of me as well because years later he returned with your sister. He asked me to watch over her. I wish I hadn't failed him so miserably."

"How did the Emperor's men capture Jess," Leia asked. "I've seen how formidable you and your family are."

"It was my fault," he replied sadly. "There are no secrets in this family, what with Alice seeing the future and Edward able to read minds."

Leia nodded, Jessie had warned her about that and trained her how to shield herself from Edward.

"Having known nothing else, Jessie was fine with that until she became a teenager. Then she started to resent the intrusions. It was about that time that some of her Jedi skills began to emerge and she discovered she could shield herself from them. I should have told her to stop because she became a blind spot. When she was not within sight we couldn't see or hear her like we used to be able to. But I was fairly certain that there was a boy in town that she liked and with Emmett's constant teasing…I allowed it. It had been fifteen years and there had never been a threat against her before and as far as I knew no one but your father even knew she was here. One day, she walked to school and she never came back." He looked out on the yard and Leia could see in his eyes how the memory still pained him. "We looked for her of course but we could never be certain what happened to her. It hit Rosalie the hardest I think. She was never the same after that."

"But she came back."

Carlisle smiled.

"Yes. After your brother found her she came back to visit us. To let us know that she was all right. That was an exquisite day."

Leia smiled back at him. Then her comlink buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and looked at it. Her mouth turned into a hard line.

* * *

Obi Wan was surprised at how long it took them to find him really. It would have been the first place he would have looked. After all, the Jedi temple, abandoned or not, was the only home he'd ever known.

So there was little surprise when he sensed them coming. What did surprise him, absolutely astonished him actually, was when Jessie strided in the room that he'd taken up residence in. There was no fear in her now. Instead, she was absolutely livid. He was so flabbergasted that he didn't even have time to react when she walked up to him and pushed him back with both hands, knocking him to the floor. Standing above him, her body shook with anger.

"Hello, Obi Wan," she said. "We've never actually met. I'm Leia."

* * *

Author's note: Part 3 is the last part so there are only a few more chapters left, for those of you wondering if this story will ever end. I knew it would be the longest fanfiction I ever wrote, with all the timelines I wanted to explore, which is why it was originally called Epic. So thanks to all of you who are sticking with it!


	21. Laid Bare

Obi Wan stared at Leia in wonder. Of course she wasn't Jessie. Over the initial shock, it seemed obvious to him now. They were identical, yes, but Jessie moved more fluidly, sexier, he admitted ruefully. And Leia seemed much more confident. Stronger. Especially now, standing over him, her body vibrating with her anger. He took a deep breath and tried to remember that once, he had been considered a great negotiator.

"It's lovely to meet you Leia," he said, as he climbed to his feet. She seemed unamused. "But I was under the impression that we had met, in the future."

"I never had the pleasure," she grumbled. "I only got to see you d--"

"Leia," Luke snapped and Obi Wan realized that Luke and Han had followed her in. But they were standing back, almost afraid to be in her vicinity while she was so angry.

"I only got to see you from a distance." She corrected herself although she seemed unhappy to do it. Obi Wan wondered what she meant to say. He was sure it wasn't good.

Leia started pacing in front of him like a predatory cat, looking for the best place to strike.

She went for the jugular.

"My sister sends her love."

"You've seen her?" His voice was barely above a whisper. All the mediating, all the work he'd put into gaining back control, vanished. All the anguish and the anger surged up like a tidal wave inside him. He had to fight it back. He knew Leia and Luke would feel it too and they had to know he could control himself or they'd never let him near her again.

But Leia didn't seem inclined to give him the time he needed.

"You're a father."

Obi Wan felt his heart halt in his chest. No. He had calculated. He had done the math in his head dozens of times, against every single time they'd made love. It was too early. Something had gone wrong. Had what he'd done--?

"Do I have a son or a daughter," he whispered, terrified of the answer.

"You have both," Leia all but snarled.

"Both?"

"She named her son Qui-Gon and her daughter Padme."

Obi Wan felt light-headed and he sank heavily into a chair.

Twins. He hadn't taken that into account. Of course they would come earlier. And he'd missed it. The birth of his children. He'd had one opportunity, a meeting of pure circumstance, like the Force had lead him specifically to that planet to find her, and he'd ruined it.

He closed his eyes.

"And she named him Qui-Gon," he whispered. She had known what his former master had meant to him.

Leia made a dismissive noise; clearly she didn't approve. He couldn't blame her. He had tried to kill Jessie and she had named one of their children in his honor.

"They have your eyes," Leia continued, and Obi Wan was quite certain she was intentionally torturing him. "And he has her hair, but Padme's is much lighter. They are perfect." Her voice suddenly took on a hard edge. "It's a shame that Jessie plans on abandoning them."

* * *

Jessie looked down at her sleeping babies and sighed. Her body was depleted of tears and she had made peace with her decision. Qui and Paddy, as her family had taken to calling them, were safe here. They would grow up the way she did, amongst people who loved them and who were uniquely qualified to protect them.

She hadn't told Leia her intention but she was sure that she suspected. When they first walked into the house and Alice had lead them to the nursery that she had gone overboard decorating, it was clear that the babies weren't going to be staying for only a few days. But maybe Leia would think that Jessie was going to stay as well. She doubted it though. Leia knew her too well.

Jessie eased out of the room and made her way down the stairs to the first floor. She was still in her thoughtful silence when she came to a stop in the middle of the stairs. A young man, young but huge, came out of the kitchen, eating out of a bowl. He was at least 6'5, and his skin was dark and tan, and he wasn't wearing any shoes or a shirt. He also appeared to be completely human. He stopped, the spoon half way to his mouth, when he saw her as well.

"Who are you?" They said in unison.

But before either could answer Renesmee came running into the room.

"My Jacob!" She shouted and the little girl ran to the huge teenager and launched into his arms. Balancing the bowl in one hand he caught her easily with his other arm.

"Hey sweetheart," he said with a bright smile.

"Jacob…." Edward entered the room after her, his voice a warning.

"Gimme a break Edward, I didn't mean it like _that._ She's one, for God's sake."

"One and a half," Renesmee corrected.

"One and a half," Jacob agreed and then he gave Jessie a cautious look, uncertain if she was in on the secret.

"I see you've met my sister, Jessie," Edward said to Jacob.

Jacob looked Jess up and down and then actually sniffed the air.

"Your sister," he said dubiously. "But she's not--"

"Adopted sister."

"Oh. You didn't eat her?"

"Obviously not."

"Did you want to?"

"On the many occasions that she misbehaved, yes." Edward sighed in that manner that only he could and looked at Jess. "Jessie, this is Jacob Black he's a family friend."

"You have family friends? I mean, that are human?" She felt safe enough saying that since Jacob clearly was in on the Cullen family secret.

"Jacob's not exactly human," Edward clarified.

"Werewolf," Jacob said with a nod. "You?"

"Jedi clone."

"She's an alien," Renesmee whispered.

"Seriously?"

"I have tentacles if you'd like to see."

"Don't humor him, Jessie," Rosalie grumbled as she walked passed them and up the stairs. "It's hard enough to get the dog to leave."

"You know what you have when a blond is buried up to her neck in cement?" Jacob called after Rosalie, who ignored him completely. "Not enough cement!"

Jacob chuckled to himself and then looked back at Renesmee.

"Ready to go hunting, Nessie?"

She nodded. Jacob looked at Jess again.

"Uh, do you--hunt?"

"I prefer my food without a pulse, thanks."

Jacob shrugged. "To each their own. Edward?"

"I'm good," he said, "Be careful with Renesmee."

Jacob put his bowl down on the table and swung the little girl in the air.

"Always."

Edward walked over to the window to watch the pair leave the house and start off into the forest. Jessie walked to his side and saw that the little girl was now riding on the back of an enormous wolf. She sighed so loudly that Edward looked at her.

"What is it?" He asked.

"If there was one thing in this universe that I knew, it was that nothing here would ever change. And I come back and you have a wife and a one year old preschooler and a werewolf."

Edward chuckled. She smiled at him and leaned her head on his shoulder. He put his arm around her waist.

"Ready to talk about it," he asked.

"No," she replied.

"Ready to think about it?"

She sighed again.

* * *

Obi Wan was on his feet. "Abandon them?!"

"She knows you won't stop looking for her." Leia said in a tightly controlled voice. "So she's always going to be on the run. She doesn't want a life like that for them."

"You mean she doesn't want me to find them!" All his control was gone again, swallowed by this new horror.

"Can you blame her? You tired to kill her!"

"That was a lapse. It won't happen again."

"Because you're so in control now?"

Obi Wan snapped his jaw shut, trying desperately to regain control of himself. But Leia seemed determined to keep that from happening.

"If you ever go near my sister again--"

Obi Wan used to consider himself a smart man. What possessed him to speak at that moment, he will never know.

"She's not your sister, she's a cl--"

The words hadn't even finished coming out of his mouth when her hand connected with his jaw and the slap was so hard that his head snapped back from the impact.

* * *

"Oh!" Jess sat up, awakened from her sleep by the surge of fury. Edward and Bella looked at her curiously. She'd fallen asleep on Edward's shoulder, while they watched tv. Bella was on his other side, snuggled against him and Renesemee was asleep on Edward's lap.

"What is it," he asked.

"Leia," she said, trying to reach out, to grab the fleeting image. "She's pissed."

"You can sense that all the way across the universe?"

Jessie nodded, fretting over what had her sister in such a rage. "She's _really _pissed."

She sank back against the couch, pondering. Bella reached over and carefully plucked her daughter off of Edward's lap.

"I'm going to put her to bed," she said, and she leaned over and kissed Edward and it was like Jessie wasn't even there. She buried her face in the cushion until they stopped. "Don't be too long," Bella concluded and she vanished out the back door.

Edward looked back at Jess and smiled ruefully.

"Sorry about that," he said. Then he stood up and snapped the tv off, then offered his hand to her. "Are you ready?"

* * *

Obi Wan experimentally moved his jaw. It stung and he thought one of his teeth rattled. Leia was powerful for being so small. He slowly looked back at her. She was glaring at him, daring him, it seemed, to retaliate. Luke and Han, standing behind her, both looked stunned, although Han had drawn his blaster.

"You're right," Leia said, still with the same tight, controlled voice. "She's not my sister. She's an actual living, breathing piece of me. So consider that everything that you do to her--you do to me."

Obi Wan swallowed hard. "What do you expect me to do?"

"I expect you to do the right thing. Go back to your own time, back to Tatooine, so she can stop running."

* * *

"Are you sure you want to do this," Edward asked.

Jessie eased back on the floor and sighed: "No."

She laid down, next to Edward, her head by his feet, his head by her feet, more or less, he was easily a foot taller then her. He sat up on his elbows and looked at her.

"Then we won't."

She waved a dismissive hand at him. "I'm just being melodramatic."

He tried to assess whether she was telling the truth or not. She rolled her eyes.

"Edward, if you want to know if I'm telling the truth or not, this is the way to go." She lifted her hand to him and he hesitantly took it and eased back down on the floor. "I just hope you're not too shocked."

"After that whole Starbuck thing, I don't think anything will ever surprise me again."

They twined their fingers together. Jessie closed her eyes, took a deep breath and she let go….She let the shield drop and let her brother into her mind. She thought back to the beginning, when Obi Wan first came aboard Voyager, and how wondrous those early days were. Occasionally Edward would flinch beside her and she would realize that her thoughts had slipped to some of the more intimate moments and she would quickly move on. She remembered Luke coming to Voyager and the cascade of the disaster that followed. She didn't try and hide any of the choices that she made or why she made them. She simply laid everything bare for him to see.

Of course, Jess simply could have dropped the shield and let Edward see what he wanted at any time. The connection they made on the floor was for her benefit, not his.

Because with that connection Jessie could see into Edward's mind as well. She watched how he had gone to high school one day, living the charade as any other day, and how a girl named Bella Swan transferred in. He didn't disguise from her his savage need to rip Bella's throat out that first day. Or how it had taken every ounce of strength in him to keep himself from killing her. Jess watched how he struggled. And how that struggle got even more difficult as he fell in love with Bella. She watched how he did everything he could to protect her, even from himself. How he left her when he realized she wasn't safe in his world any more. How he thought she'd killed herself and he'd flown to Italy to do the same. She learned how Jacob Black became a "family" friend by first being a rival for Bella's love. Of how Bella had to eventually choose between them and what a miracle it was, in Edward's mind, that she had chosen him. And then of the beautiful wedding that Alice had orchestrated, and how two months later, Renesmee, a human/ vampire hybrid clawed her way out of her mother and Edward had finally granted Bella's wish and changed her in order to save her life.

Edward and Jessie let go of each other's hand.

_Wow,_ they both thought at the same time, because words weren't necessary between them any more.

Jessie threw an arm over her eyes. _And I felt bad before…_

Edward sat up and looked down at her.

_What are you talking about?_

_Jesus, Edward, you did everything--everything--to protect Bella. You broke your own heart, you even offered to share her with Jacob for God's sake. Everything I did was completely selfish. _

_You panicked in the beginning. I'll allow that but he tried to kill you. _

_That wasn't his fault. _

_It wasn't his _fault_?!_

_I made him the man he is today. _

Disgusted, Edward stood up.

_Edward?_

_Yes?_

_Why didn't you eat me? _

_Excuse me? _

_When I was a baby. I just saw what you went through with Bella. You loved her more then your own life but you were still always tempted. I had no idea. I never felt in any danger growing up here and I came home with scraped knees all the time._

_It was different with you--and with Qui and Paddy. You don't smell appetizing. _

_What do we smell like?_

He shrugged.

_Metallic. _

_Metallic?_

_I imagine eating you would be like chewing on tin foil. _

_Lovely. _

_Your children will be safe here, Jess. You would be safe here. _

She shook her head.

_I can't risk it. You know better then anyone. Sometimes when you love someone you have to leave them to keep them safe. _


	22. The Final Exam

"Can you do this?" Luke asked for the hundredth time.

Obi Wan nodded as the two men crossed the floor of the elegant casino. Everything around them was designed to draw the eye to the gaming tables and slot machines, but Obi Wan was oblivious because he knew his entire future was going to be decided in the next few minutes. It seemed morbidly ironic that it would take place in establishment dedicated to games of chance.

He tugged viscously at his tie and wondered about the mentality of a society that required it's men to wear a noose around their neck. If she hadn't outfitted Luke in the same way, Obi Wan would swear Leia had done it just to torture him some more. He glanced at Luke and saw that his companion was assessing him again, using all of his senses to gauge Obi Wan's mood.

"I passed Leia's test, didn't I?" he said petulantly. The entire matter still rankled him.

_"I expect you to do the right thing. Go back to your own time, back to Tatooine, so she can stop running."_

_And Obi Wan knew she was right. Jessie was never going to stop and his children would grow up without both of them. The weight on his chest felt like it would crush him, but he nodded. _

_"Alright," he said, defeated. "I'll go back."_

_Leia's eyes widened in shock and she appeared to feel--disappointed?_

_"I told you," Luke had rumbled quietly and Leia turned on him._

_"He said he'd go back. He should."_

_Luke shook his head._

_"That wasn't the deal."_

_"Deal?" Obi Wan mumbled. _

_Luke finally stepped forward. _

_"I told Leia that I thought you should have another chance. I thought you'd do what was right when it came down to a choice. She wasn't convinced."_

_"This was a--test?"_

_"She threw everything she had at you and you still decided to do what was best for your children."_

_Obi Wan swallowed and asked: "So what now?"_

_"If you promise not to ditch me again, I'll take you to her."_

"She's still not happy about this," Luke replied, regarding Leia.

Obi Wan nodded and rubbed his forehead absently. Luke was monitoring him carefully. Obi Wan did seem to be in control but he was still dangerously anxious for a Jedi. And he was exhausted.

"When was the last time you slept?" he asked.

Obi Wan had to think about it. He really couldn't recall.

"I don't know," he replied.

They came to a stop in front of the entrance to the hotel's nightclub. There was a line of people waiting to get inside, mostly paper thin, scantily clad women. Deafening music and flashing lights spilled out the door. Luke turned to Obi Wan.

"This is it," he said severely, "the last chance. I'm not even sure she'll see you but if she does--Do. Not. Blow. It."

Obi Wan nodded. He knew what was at stake here.

Luke walked up to the bouncer at the door. "We're on the VIP list," he said. The bouncer nodded and waved them inside.

"They're on the VIP list," he repeated to no one in particular, and let them enter.

Obi Wan was hoping it would be cooler in the club then in the casino, but it was in fact, much warmer. It was darker; almost cave like, but there were so many people dancing to the hypnotic music that they seemed to be generating their own heat. He tugged at his tie again; convinced it was restricting around his throat.

He followed Luke to a table and watched as he asked the people already sitting there to move. They got up promptly and left it empty for them. Luke settled into a seat and Obi Wan sat down next to him. His eyes started to rove across the crowd, looking for Jessie. It was dark and incredibly noisy. It seemed like a really ill equipped place for them to talk.

"What are we waiting for?" he finally asked. He was starting to sweat and he hoped Luke didn't notice.

"I'll let her know we're here as soon as she's done," he replied.

"Done with what?"

Luke pointed at the ceiling. Obi Wan looked up and caught his breath. Four gold-gilded cages were descending from the ceiling, each with a dancer, dressed as an angel, inside. And Jessie was in the one closest to them.

The music shifted from the beat infused dance music to a more sensual song. Obi Wan wouldn't have even noticed except that he could hear Jess reciting the words to the song in her head.

_"I've been a bad, bad girl. I've been careless with a delicate man. And it's a sad, sad world when a girl can break a boy just because she can. Don't you tell me to deny it. I've done wrong and I want to suffer for my sins."_

He couldn't take his eyes off of her. She was dressed like the other girls in a pair of skin tight gold shorts and lacy white half tank top, the only exception being that the angel wings she wore were black.

_"Heaven help me for the way am I. Save me from these evil deeds before I get them done. I know tomorrow brings the consequence it has, but I keep living this day like the next will never come."_

She wasn't so much dancing to the music as she was sliding around each note--moving her hips and her shoulders in a manner Obi Wan was intimately familiar with. You would never guess that she had given birth only a few weeks prior and that thought made something in his gut tighten.

Jessie's head snapped around at that moment, scanning the crowd, and Obi Wan took a deep breath, pushing down the sudden pain he was feeling. He knew it was his anger that she could sense most acutely. She looked around briefly but there were so many people in the crowd and the floor was so dark that if she couldn't sense him she'd never see him. The pause was brief and she went back to dancing. She was smiling rather seductively and anyone watching would assume she was enjoying herself immensely. But Obi Wan could sense her feelings and he knew there was nothing there but desolation. She was as miserable as he was.

_"Let me know the way, before there's hell to pay. Give me room to lay the law and let me go. I've got to make a play, to make my lover stay. So what would an angel say--the devil wants to know. "_

He couldn't tear his eyes off of her and he felt a familiar flush of heat course through him that he thought was long dead. He watched her, the entire time, for an hour or maybe three, he didn't know, until finally the cages ascended back into the ceiling. When he finally looked away, he realized Luke was studying him, his expression intense. And suddenly Obi Wan knew why Luke had wanted him to sit through all of that. This was Luke's test. He wanted to see how Obi Wan would act when he saw her for the first time.

"Did I pass?" he asked.

Luke hesitated a moment and then nodded.

"I'll go back and talk to her. I'll let you know if she wants to see you."

* * *

Jessie absently removed her angel wings as she walked back to the women's dressing room. There was something strange about tonight but she couldn't understand exactly what it was. Something was in the air.

She went to her locker and pulled it open. She pulled out her purse and dug for her cell phone. She was hoping that Alice or Rosalie had sent her some more pictures of the twins. If she'd been smart she would have left the planet entirely, but she hadn't even left the Western United States. Being out of cell phone range would have been too painful.

She glanced at the phone and saw that she had 8 missed calls and it brought sharply to mind the last conversation she's had with her psychic sister, Alice, before she'd left.

_"So what do you see in my future," she had asked, leaving the question to the last minute because she had been afraid of what she would hear. _

_But Alice shook her head._

_"Nothing distinct, neither one of you has decided what you are going to do next, so your futures are fuzzy."_

_"You'll let me know if anything changes?"_

_"Of course."_

Jessie stared at the cell phone. Someone was desperate to get a hold of her. Desperate to warn her.

She turned and bolted.

* * *

Obi Wan shot out of his chair. "No!"

The surge of terror was unmistakably familiar. He gave a frantic glance around the club and Luke was no where to be seen. He didn't have time to wait. He barreled in the direction he knew Jessie was now fleeing.

* * *

Luke felt it too.

"No, no, no, no, no," he chanted as he raced for the dressing room. He burst into the room, igniting a string of shrieks from the other girls, but his sister was not there. He saw another door, in the back of the room, still swinging from being flung open. He ran through it and found himself in the middle of an endless white hallway. He heard running steps nearby and followed the sound. They led him to a stairwell. He heard the steps above him and followed.

Then something flew at him, so fast that it was a blur. He was flung down the steps and landed hard on the landing at the bottom of the stairs. A young man was standing above him, growling savagely at him. Luke reached out and used the Force to lift him off of his feet and pin him to the wall. But before he could catch his breath a hand as cold as ice and as strong as a vice, reached around from behind him and clamped around his throat.

"Put him down or I will rip your head off," a strangely musical voice instructed. Luke had no doubt that she wasn't exaggerating.

He let go of the young man and before his feet even touched the ground he launched himself at Luke again. A guttural growl echoed in the empty stairwell and Luke had his lightsaber in his hand when the musical voice called out again.

"Jasper, stop! That's not him!"

The young man stopped so suddenly it was like someone had pushed a pause button. He was crouched over Luke, his teeth bared and his arms bent back like he was about to pounce. He glanced at the young woman who'd spoken.

Luke's eyes followed, seeing her for the first time. She was so petite he never would have believed she was the same one with the iron grip.

"Are you Luke?" she asked, almost timidly.

He nodded.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry!" She cried and she reached over and yanked him to his feet without even the slightest effort. "We thought you were Obi Wan. I started having these visions, but they were so indistinct that I wasn't sure what they were so Jazz and I came here to see her and then about an hour ago everything came into sharp focus and I tried calling her but she didn't pick up and--"

"Wait a minute," Jasper cut through. "Where _is_ Obi Wan?"

* * *

Obi Wan's head was swimming. It was like he was a test animal in some sort of endless white washed maze. It seemed like Jessie was leading him deeper into the building, not out of it, and he felt like he was suffocating. He realized that she had no idea where she was going. She was simply fleeing from him in a blind terror. But it was that terror that he could sense and that he could follow.

She ran and ran and ran, leaving a trail of fallen security guards and various others in her wake. Then he came to a door that was different from all the others. It was heavy and with more locks. He hoped it was because it led to the outside. If he didn't get some fresh air soon he was going to pass out.

He pushed through the door and a wall of sound nearly knocked him over. He'd stumbled into an arena filled with thousands of people. It was dark and there was a musical group of some sort on a stage in the front of the cavernous room.

Obi Wan looked around frantically but the music was loud and the lights were synchronized to the beats of the drum. His eyes would adjust to the dark blue light emanating from the stage and then suddenly a blinding white light, in tune with the beat, would pulse through the arena. When he could see, all around him were people, moving to the music like waves of grass caught in a breeze.

Then the singer, his voice filling every corner, would suddenly stop and every one of the crowd of thousands around him picked up where he left off--like an enormous choir--and the walls vibrated with it.

_"If you love me, won't you let me know? If you love me, won't you let me know?"_

Feeling the drums and bass fill the auditorium was like the mutual pulse of the thousands of people there. Then the bright lights flooded the auditorium and he could see her, standing a hundred yards from him. She had stopped, hidden in the darkness, to look at him. Her eyes were full of unshed tears.

The lights went out again, the crowd roared and she turned and fled and he stumbled after her. The lights and pulsing music were disorienting. He was unnaturally hot and he yanked at his tie again but his fingers fumbled away. He saw her push through a door and he followed. She was so close now but his legs felt like they had weights tied to them. He pushed through the door and the night air hit him in the face. But it wasn't the crisp cool air he craved. They were in the desert and it was hot and dry. It felt like crumpled paper going down his throat and he gasped and fell.

His head hit the pavement with a wet slap and he felt blood instantly start to seep into the surface beneath him. He wanted to get up but there was no strength left in his body. He was having trouble just breathing. His fingers went to the noose around his neck again, trying to loosen it so he could breath, but he couldn't feel his fingers any more.

Then he felt a sharp tug on the tie and he felt the offending piece of material slither away from his neck. He realized then that his eyes were closed and he opened them.

Jessie was bent down in front of him.

She'd come back for him.

She was still scared, maybe wondering if it was some sort of trick, but her face was covered with concern. She put her hand on his forehead and then pulled it away as if she'd been burned.

"Oh God…."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Luke, Alice and Jasper burst through the same door and came to an abrupt halt. Alice and Jasper had been following Jessie's metallic scent.

"What?" Luke asked.

"It stops," Jasper said.

"She must have gotten into a car or something," Alice said.

Luke shook his head. "Leia is going to kill me."

Jasper, still sniffing the air, bent down and picked up a discarded tie off the ground. He clenched it in his fist and then turned to Alice.

"Do you see where they went?" he asked desperately.

"Let me see," Alice said, and she stared off into space. Instantly her eyes became unfocused. And then they widened in shock and her mouth formed a perfect O.

"What?" Luke and Jasper asked together.

"Well--that's unexpected," she replied.


	23. Killing me softly

Jessie laid Obi Wan on the bed as gently as she could but he landed with a spring-creaking thump instead. She gasped for breath (even moving him around using the Force was beginning to take its toll) and scrambled over and touched his forehead again. There was still no change; his skin was on fire. She climbed on the bed and straddled him as she tugged his jacket off of one of his arms and then the other. He was dead weight and mumbling incoherently.

She started tearing through his shirt buttons, grumbling to herself about why he was dressed like a freakin' Armani model and wondering if he'd done it on purpose as yet another way to torture her. She lost her patience by the end and finally tore the material apart, sending the buttons bouncing in both directions. She freed him of his shirt and then reached down and ripped the belt he wore out of the loops. She was about to pull open his pants when her hands froze.

Shaking her head, she jumped off of him and reached for her phone. She dialed her father's office and hoped he was there. He answered after the first ring.

"Hello?"

"Daddy," she said, failing to keep the sound of panic out of her voice.

"Jessie?" his voice was instantly, uncharacteristically, alarmed. "What's wrong?"

"Daddy, you have to come. He's burning up and he's bleeding. You have to help him."

"Who?"

Jess bit her lip.

"Luke," she replied, "his skin is hot to the touch and I think he's having delusions. He hit his head too but I don't think that's as serious."

"Where are you?"

"Nevada. Please come."

"I'll be on the next plane. Just give me the address."

Jessie gave him the address and directions from the airport, cursing her choice of such an isolated location. When she hung up, she prayed that he would go straight from the hospital to the airport and not stop by home. Lying in the Cullen household had always been a futile endeavor. She and Edward were too far apart for him to read her thoughts and if Alice saw anything related to this in her future hopefully she would keep her mouth shut. If Carlisle knew why she really wanted him to come, she was sure he wouldn't.

She turned back to Obi Wan. He was sprawled across the bed, still mumbling. In the semidarkness of the room, he looked like he was talking in his sleep. Jess carefully put her hand on his face and tilted his head to examine the gash on his temple. The blood had started to cake to the side of his face and she went into the bathroom and grabbed a washcloth. She turned on the bathtub before returning to his side. Then she carefully wiped the wound clean so she could see it better.

It wasn't much of a cut but she was concerned about a concussion. She went back into the bathroom and found some bandages in the first aid kit. She tested the water in the bathtub and turned it off. Then she went back into the bedroom and climbed back on the bed. She shifted Obi Wan's head into her lap as she went to work placing the bandage over his cut. She tried to be careful but he twitched.

"You're OK," she whispered, and she leaned over and kissed his forehead. She thought his body relaxed. She climbed off the bed and after taking a deep breath she unbuttoned his pants and yanked them off. Then, using the Force, she lifted him into the bathroom and the bathtub. As soon as she let him go, he sank beneath the water.

"Damn," she mumbled, "you're not going to make any of this easy, are you?'

She lifted him and climbed into the tub behind him, so that she could hold him up. The water wasn't ice cold--tepid, Carlisle had said--but it certainly wasn't warm. She put her arms around his chest and leaned her head against his back. He was warm enough to keep her from freezing. Occasionally she scooped up hands full of water and poured them over his head.

She didn't know how long they were like that, she thought she may have fallen asleep, but she was trembling uncontrollably and her skin had puckered by the time she decided he'd been submerged long enough. She climbed weakly out of the tub, and unplugged the water. She laboriously peeled off her saturated clothes, and left them in a soggy pile on the floor. Then she dug out a pile of towels from the linen closet and wrapped herself in one and then started to dry off Obi Wan. With the little energy she had left, she moved him back to the bed. He was still dripping but she flung the sheet over him and curled up next to him. He had stopped mumbling and she hoped that was a good sign. She fell into a fitful sleep until she heard the frantic knocking on the door.

* * *

All Obi Wan remembered were fleeting images. Darkness and deafening music. Searing desert air. Cracking his head on the ground. Then her face right in front of him, after so long.

He remembered the floating sensation, many times. How many times had she lifted him? And then being in a vehicle, the air inside, wonderfully cool. He had tried to talk to her but the words didn't sound right and then he would forget what he was trying to say any way.

Then he felt softness beneath him, and the scent of her hair was all around him and it comforted him. He felt less restricted and he could breathe easier. Then he was floating, the water was like a tropical pool. Then he was buried in the softness again.

But then the pounding sounded and a piece of his numb cocoon chipped away. The pounding was annoying, and he wanted it to stop. He felt the ground beneath him shift and creak and he felt her pull away from him.

Jessie?

He sensed her leaving and the despair consumed him. She'd been near and now she was fleeing again. He'd never find her again. He tried to call out to her and then he heard her voice in the distance.

"Thank you," he heard her say, her voice seemed full of relief and anxiety both. "He's back here."

He could hear her light footsteps and then a sharp intake of breath.

"Jessica Amelia Thorton Cullen," a velvet voice said sharply. "This isn't who I think it is, is it?"

"Daddy---"

"No! Absolutely not."

"You're the only one I could call. You know more about our physiology then a regular doctor."

"So what do you expect me to do, patch him up so he can live to hunt you down another day?"

"Daddy, please--"

"He tried to kill you Jess, I have no intention of making him better so that he can try again."

"He's Paddy and Qui's father," she whispered. There was only silence. "I love him, daddy. Please."

Then Obi Wan felt an ice cold stone pressed to his forehead. He realized after a moment that it was someone's hand. He struggled to open his eyes, to speak, but his body refused to do what it was told.

"Do you have any Tylenol?" the other voice asked. "He'll need more then an average dose."

Obi Wan heard Jessie's quiet footsteps recede and then he heard the other voice again, this time so close that he could feel the cool air of his breath in his ear.

"I want you to know," the voice chillingly whispered, "that I haven't killed a human being in almost three hundred years. So I want you to understand the gravity of my statement when I say that if you try and hurt my daughter again I will hunt you down across all of the known universes and rip your throat out with my teeth."

Obi Wan felt his entire body shiver.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, darling?"

"What did you do?"

"Hmmm?"

"He's worried. I can feel it. What did you say to him?"

"Only worried, than not enough apparently."

"Daddy!"

"I will do what I can for him, for you, but I want him to know what the consequences are if he tries to harm you again."

"What happened before was not---"

"If you say it was not his fault I will cheerfully rip one of his limbs off."

"But it wasn't---"

"Would you like to pick which limb then? I don't think you'd be pleased with _my_ choice."

Jessie caught her breath and said nothing more. Obi Wan felt the cold hands again, measuring his vitals and temperature. He felt something on his tongue and then felt it slide dryly down his throat. Then he felt a jab to his arm. After that the thick layer over his mind slowly started to melt away.

He felt the bed dip beneath him and he felt Jessie's delicate hand on his forehead.

"His fever is going down," her father said disapprovingly. "With some rest he'll be ready to pillage and plunder again soon enough."

Jessie sighed loudly.

"I'm going to kill Edward."

"You knew he would tell us what happened."

"But he didn't tell you the whole story, apparently. In his telling I've somehow become the victim of the tale."

"Did you set out to seduce Obi Wan and leave him a broken and bitter man?"

"I don't think so," she said carefully. "But with me, you can never tell, can you?"

This time her father sighed.

"Did you consciously set out to destroy him?"

"No, but that's what happened, regardless of my intentions. You didn't know him before. He was--perfect."

"People get their hearts broken all the time Jessica. It does not give them a license to kill."

"He would have let go," she whispered and Obi Wan felt her fingers brush aside the hair on his forehead.

"When he wakes up he should be better," her father said. "You should go before then. He'll still be weak but I don't want you to take any chances."

Obi Wan tried to force words of protest out of his mouth.

"I'll be fine."

"You're not staying here with him alone."

"Just until his fever breaks. Then I'll go. I promise."

"Then I'll stay with you."

Jess laughed dryly.

"Thanks, but I happen to like his limbs right where they are."

Her father made a disgusted noise and Jess laughed again. Obi Wan felt the bed dip as she slid off of it. He listened to their voices grow quieter as they left the room and he drifted off to sleep to the quiet murmur.

* * *

Obi Wan opened his eyes with a start of panic. How could he let himself fall asleep when he knew she was leaving? He was about to launch out of the bed when he realized that Jessie was actually sound asleep, one arm draped over his torso, her hair spread out like a fan across his chest. He took a deep breath and then let it out slowly.

She was still here.

She was wearing a thick white robe that had slipped partially off one of her shoulders. He reached out to touch it, to make sure that she was real and not a figment of his feverish mind. But as soon as he touched her skin her entire body tensed up, ready to take flight.

"Don't," he said, his throat dry.

She didn't relax one muscle.

He let his fingers drift cautiously across her shoulder, up her neck.

"It's alright," he said.

She lifted her face to look at him. It pained him to see the fear in her eyes. He cradled her face with his hand and ran his thumb over her cheek. He watched her eyes become puzzled but her body was still pulled tight like a spring. He brushed her hair away from her face and looked into her eyes; his heart thudded unevenly in his chest. He hadn't expected this.

His greatest hope was that he could convince her to stop running. That he would be allowed to see his children and watch them grow up. And that if Jessie could forgive him, he could forgive her and they would be able to coexist civilly. He had not expected to feel what he felt on Voyager rekindle inside of him. But then again, he had never expected to hear her say that she loved him either.

There was so much that he had to say to her but only one thing came to mind at that moment.

"I've missed you," he sighed.

Her eyes got wider in disbelief. Then slowly, her lips turned up in a smile and she laughed lightly.

"You're still delusional," she said and her body finally relaxed. She leaned her head into his hand and sighed.

He wanted to dispute her but he was afraid that if he pointed out that he was in complete control of his faculties she might try and run again. And when she turned her head and kissed the inside of his palm everything else went out of his head.

He eased down so that he was level with her and kissed her shoulder. She wound her hands into his hair and sighed. He eased his hand down the length of her body until he got passed the bulky robe and he felt the smooth satin skin of her leg. He let his fingers trail down her thigh and she gasped in his ear.

He let his lips run over her shoulder, up and under her chin, and with his other hand he felt for the belt of her robe. When he found it, he gave it a decisive tug and Jessie's entire body went rigid.

"What are you doing?" she gasped.

Obi Wan pulled away from her and frowned.

"I thought it was fairly obvious."

She put her hands on his chest and pushed away from him.

"No!"

He paused to read her feelings. Aside from her sudden flair of anxiety he could feel the same building heat and desire that he was intimately familiar with. He carefully took her wrists and pulled her arms away from his chest and put them over his shoulders and then slid closer to her.

"No?"

She shook her head but he felt a stroke of heat pulse through her. He reached out and touched her hair.

"No," she whispered.

He ran his thumb over her bottom lip and it quivered.

"Why not?"

"Because you'll regret it," she said, her voice trembling. "You'll come to your senses eventually and you'll hate me even more."

He smiled and leaned in and nipped her ear.

"Oh I doubt that," he whispered. He felt her body stiffen and he realized how that response may have sounded to her. He rolled over and pinned her beneath him.

"Make love with me," he whispered. Her body trembled beneath him but she turned her face away from him.

"No," she said desperately.

He reached down and tugged at the belt of her robe again.

"Please?" he asked and he was surprised at how much it sounded like begging even to his own ears.

"You're killing me," she whispered. She turned her face to his and sighed in defeat. "But that's inevitable, isn't it?" Then she reached up and crushed her lips to his.

* * *

Obi Wan should not have been surprised, but he was, when he awoke the next morning alone.


	24. New World

Obi Wan climbed out of bed slowly. Every piece of him hurt; body and soul. How many hours had they spent together? How much time when he could have tried to talk to her? So many things he needed to say and didn't. How could he have fallen asleep? He knew what would happen if he did but she had seemed so content, so happy…

He stood up and made his way to the bathroom. He turned on the facet and splashed his face with water.

She still feared him and the only reason she had stayed was because she thought he was still delusional from the fever. She thought that the only way he could possibly want her was if he was impaired. He ran his hand over his face and groaned.

And now she was gone.

He looked at himself in the mirror.

She thought he would wake up and still be the monster that had attacked her on Jiangyin. And he'd given her no reason to believe otherwise. He'd never told her that he understood now. That the fever had burned away everything.

Everything.

He yanked open one of the drawers and dug around for something sharp.

* * *

Obi Wan realized, as he left the house, that he had no idea where he was. That was going to make things difficult. He had redressed in the suit he'd found in a pile on the floor so he patted his pockets for his comlink. Then he stopped abruptly when he saw that Luke, Leia and Han were waiting for him. They were standing in front of an automobile, waiting for him in tense silence. When they saw him they each gave a start. He realized it was because of his new appearance.

He rubbed his bare chin self consciously. He'd grown the beard originally to honor Qui Gon, but he had considered it part of his status as a Jedi as well. It had been some sort of symbol of his growing wisdom. What the last year had taught him was that there were certain things he had no wisdom about at all. And since there was no Jedi Order either, he decided to start fresh. A Padawan to this new world he now inhabited.

Han, his hand resting on his blaster, spoke first.

"Jess called. She said she screwed you---over, again."

"Did she?" he replied. _I suppose she would see it like that. _Things would be easier now, he realized, that he understood how she thought.

"I'm glad you're here," he said. Now he wouldn't waste any time trying to find them. Luke looked puzzled. Leia looked cautious. Then Obi Wan understood. They had expected him to be on a rampage. He couldn't blame them, he supposed.

"Luke, do you know where there are more of the Emperor's files?"

Luke looked staggered by the question but he replied cautiously: "There are still plenty of movements across the galaxy that are loyal to the Emperor. We found the file on Jessie when we raided one of their bases."

Obi Wan nodded.

"Well we need to find more. And a trip to Kamino might also be in order."

"Ok," Han said, "So it's official? He's taken a trip to the dark side. Can I shoot him now?"

Obi Wan glanced at Han and sniffed in disgust.

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Then why are you looking for the Emperor's files?" Leia asked.

"So we can find that switch that Jessie is so worried about and activate it."

* * *

The hysterical laughter filled the entire house. Even if the inhabitants didn't have superior hearing they all would have heard it. So they all rushed to Carlisle's office to see what the cause was. Jessie was sitting on her father's exam table, bent over, half laughing, half crying. Esme immediately went to her side and cradled her in her arms.

"What is it?" she asked.

Edward let out a groan.

"What?" Emmett demanded.

Jessie couldn't stop her maniacal laughing so Edward said: "She's pregnant, again."

Jessie fell back and laughed harder.

"I knew I shouldn't have left you alone with him," Carlisle growled. "Did he force you---"

Jessie shook her head and tried to catch her breath.

"Oh no," Edward mumbled, rubbing his forehead. "She was quite willing. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to dry heave."

Esme put her hand on Jess' forehead.

"It's going to be OK," she said soothingly.

Jessie shook her head.

"No," she finally managed to say. "It won't."

* * *

Jess stared out the nursery window into the uncharacteristically sunny yard below. Renesmee was playing with Jacob. She looked about five now and Jessie felt a chill run down her spine. She looked back at her own sleeping babies and wondered if it would be the same for her. Her children weren't growing at the abnormal speed that Nessie was but it would feel that way to Jessie. She would only have bits of time here and there to sneak away and see them. One visit they would be babies, the next toddlers, the next---?

She wrapped her arms around her stomach. She hadn't just doomed her twins to this but she'd gone out and done the same thing again. She'd taken advantage of Obi Wan while he was sick, when he didn't know any better. He couldn't hate her any more then she hated herself at this point.

She leaned her head against the window pane. She was so tired of running. But what else could she do?

She watched Jacob and Renesmee playing swords with sticks. Renesmee suddenly lunged at him with enough force to make the stick snap in two. It probably didn't hurt Jacob at all but he tumbled backwards and fell on his back dramatically. Renesmee started laughing until Jacob's head popped up suddenly and he turned toward the tree line behind the house. Nessie looked too, both of them hearing something.

And then Obi Wan stepped out of the trees.

At first Jessie wasn't sure it was him, he'd shaved his beard and he looked so much younger that she had to do a double take. But as he strided closer she was absolutely certain. She had barely let out a gasp when everything happened quickly.

Edward must have heard her thoughts because she heard the downstairs metal shutters close over the windows. In one swift motion, Jacob scooped up Renesmee, threw her over his back and dived into the trees. Jessie then watched in horror as seven of the Cullen's materialized between Obi Wan and the house. She knew she had to get down there as well so she turned but found Rosalie was standing in front of the door.

"Rose, I have to get down there!" She shouted. "Emmett will kill him!"

But Rose didn't move.

"We won't let him hurt you, Jessie, even if you've decided that that is acceptable."

Jessie felt like ice water wash through her body. Rosalie wasn't going to let her out of the room. Suddenly the walls were closing in on her. What had she been thinking? This is the one place her children would be safe but it was the one place that would be fatal to Obi Wan.

She looked out the window and scratched helplessly at the glass. He would be able to take one or two of her family members if he was lucky, but he had no chance against all of them. And what about her family? How many would he harm in his fruitless effort to get to her? She had doomed everyone she loved.


	25. The Negotiator

Obi Wan took a deep breath and tried to center his thoughts before he stepped out into the clearing. But Luke's words from weeks passed at the casino continued to haunt him. _Do. Not. Blow. It._

He knew that this time it was do or die. Literally. At least if half of what Leia told him was true. He took another deep breath and chastised himself. He was the great negotiator. He'd faced armies, Sith lords, his darkest enemy. And none of it was as important to him as this was. He could do this. He stepped out into the clearing.

The first thing he saw startled him. There was a young girl and a teenage boy playing in the field with sticks. It was an idyllic scene and probably one of the reasons why Jessie had chosen this place for their children to be raised. The second reason became obvious moments later when the teenager, sensing Obi Wan's presence, dashed off with the little girl with startling speed. And when he looked back to where they'd been another group had taken their place.

Obi Wan tried not to blink in surprise. Leia had not exaggerated their speed. Or their unimaginable beauty. They were mesmerizing, every one of them, even as they crouched and bared their teeth in a primal defense. And, if eyes weren't deceiving him, they seemed to sparkle in the sunlight. He quickly assessed them and tried to match what Leia had told him with the people in front of him.

Carlisle, Jessie's father, was the oldest looking of the group, though visibly not old enough to be her father. And he assumed the woman next to him, the least fierce of the group, was Esme, her mother. He identified Jasper and Alice from Luke's description. Then his eyes wandered over to Edward and his wife Bella. Edward was the easiest to identify. Unlike all the others he looked at Obi Wan with more curiosity then hostility. He was the mind reader; so Edward knew Obi Wan's intentions but still didn't trust them. And then there was Emmett. Leia had been clearest about him. Emmett wouldn't hesitate to kill him, not for what his intentions were today but for what they had been before.

One was missing.

Obi Wan reached out with the Force, expecting the missing sister to be somewhere in the forest behind him, mounting a rear assault. But instead, he sensed her inside the house that the group was guarding. He sensed her and Jessie as well.

His head snapped up to the third story window. Jessie was there and her terror was palpable. And then he saw her, at the window. Her fist hit the glass like she was trying to break it and then she disappeared from sight. He heard a stifled scream and then the wall shuttered. All the eyes of her family looked up to the window as well, their faces changed to concern.

"Be careful, Rosalie," Esme said, her voice quietly begging, and that's when Obi Wan realized that Rosalie was keeping Jessie locked in that room; restraining her from the sound of it. Jessie wasn't terrified of him for once, she was terrified _for_ him.

And then he heard the crying. Babies crying. And it almost undid him.

He clenched his fist closed and tore his eyes away from that window. If he wanted to get to Jessie and his son and daughter he had to go through the group in front of him first. He could do this. He had to do this.

Calm, reasonable, without fault. He opened his mouth to speak and immediately snapped it shut again. One of them—Alice—stepped forward. Jasper realized a moment too late and reached out to grab her arm but she danced out of his reach without a look back. She walked with the grace of a dancer away from her family straight toward him. Obi Wan watched, amazed as she crossed the distance between them, a radiant smile growing bigger across her face the closer she came to him.

"What the hell?" Emmett demanded.

Obi Wan looked at the family again and saw that they all looked confused except for Edward, who looked like someone had punched him in the stomach. Bella tugged at his arm for an explanation and he mumbled something Obi Wan could not hear but that the others clearly could. All of their faces took on the same stunned expression.

Alice reached Obi Wan and she was practically vibrating with joy.

"Hello," she said. "I'm Alice."

He tried not to sound as bewildered as he felt. "I'm Obi Wan."

She bounced up and down and put her hands out to him.

"I know."

He took her hands and they felt like ice blocks but she squeezed his hands reassuringly.

"Rosalie," she said, barely above a whisper and never taking her eyes off of the Jedi. "Let her go." Then she smiled and said to Obi Wan: "She'll be down in a minute."

Obi Wan looked down at the petite girl in wonder.

"What did you _see_?"

"You," she said with feeling, "are going to make me a happy, happy girl."

Before he could reply he heard the back door of the house snap open. Jessie stepped out into the yard. She looked like a sleepwalker, more stunned then anyone else around her. She stared at Obi Wan in awe.

Without taking her eyes off of him she asked: "Are you sure Alice?"

Alice's smiled gleamed in the sun.

"Rock solid."

"Emmett, no!" Edward suddenly cried.

Emmett was two inches away from Obi Wan before he even realized that he'd moved. Edward tackled him at the waist and knocked him off of his trajectory. Then Jasper was at his side and both brothers were wrestling the much larger one to the ground.

Jessie didn't so much as flinch. Instead, she slowly started walking toward Obi Wan, her expression intense. She was studying him, trying to assess his mood, perhaps, his intentions. Obi Wan didn't break the look between them, even as he heard Emmett and his brothers growling ferociously not ten feet away from him.

She had almost reached him when out of the corner of his eye he saw Edward get tossed ten feet in the air and then Jasper hurled in the opposite direction. Emmett got to his feet and crouched, ready to lunge at the Jedi. Still without taking her eyes off of Obi Wan Jessie threw her arm out and Emmett catapulted backwards into the trees. He disappeared but the thunder of several trees splintering in half rang through the clearing.

Jessie stopped in front of Obi Wan.

"Hello," he said gently.

"Hi," she whispered back.

It seemed like an impossible moment to them both. Carefully he reached out and put his hand on the side of her cheek. She shuttered. Everyone else, except for Alice, tensed up. Obi Wan ignored them all.

"I would just like to talk," he said to her. "Privately."

Jessie studied his face.

"Do you promise not to kill me?"

He detected a faint hint of humor.

"Do you promise not to run away?"

"Only if you don't try and kill me."

"Done."

He offered her his hand. Carefully, she took it.


	26. Forgiveness

"This way," she said, leading him into the opposite direction of where she launched Emmett. They walked into the forest and Obi Wan saw that she was scowling.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Edward is insisting on listening in," she said tightly. "He forgets that I'm not fifteen any more." She grimaced and mumbled: "Shut up." Then she looked at Obi Wan and sighed. "I'm sorry, privacy doesn't seem to be an option. If I shut him out he says he's going to assume you hurt me and he'll come after us."

"Can you blame him?" he asked. "My behavior in the past has been—"

"Less then gentlemanly?" she offered.

"I was going to say 'that of a raging psychotic'."

She smiled and squeezed his hand without thinking. It sent a warm pulse up his arm. But then she frowned.

"It's intrusive."

"Perhaps, but I wouldn't let you go off alone with me either. Not after everything that I did." He stopped abruptly and turned toward her. "I suppose I should start there." He took a deep breath and shuddered. "You have no reason to, but I can only ask that you consider forgiving me for what I've done to you. What I did on Jiangyin…and everything before…was unconscionable. I will never forgive myself for it but I can promise you that it will never happen again."

Jessie backed away from him until she bumped into one of the hemlock trees.

"You're asking _me_ for forgiveness?"

Obi Wan felt the sting of the rejection but couldn't deny that it was what he deserved.

"I didn't expect that you would but—"

"None of this would have happened if it weren't for me," she said, disbelieving. "If I'd just left you alone and hadn't gotten tangled up in your life. If I hadn't lied to you about the Jedi Order and gotten involved with you when I knew I was deceiving you into breaking your vows then you never would have gone off the deep end in the first place."

He grabbed her hands and pulled her up to his chest.

"You never lied to me," he said quietly. "I assumed, by the way that you lived, that the Order had changed, but you never told me that. You couldn't. I was so consumed by my anger, and not just my anger with you but with Anakin and everything that he did, that I couldn't see that before."

"But now you do?"

He nodded, studying her face. She still seemed totally unconvinced.

"I ran," she said. "I didn't tell you I was pregnant and I disappeared."

He nodded.

"Yes, you did." He tried to keep his voice even. "I'll admit, that didn't help my state of mind. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was afraid you wouldn't go back to your own time, if you knew." She dropped her eyes to the ground. "And I was more afraid that you would go back even if you did." She shook her head and the words started spilling out in a gush. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm sorry I was so selfish—"

The anguish in her voice was painful to him. He pulled her into his arms, crushing her body to his, if only to get her to stop. He clutched her to him as she sobbed uncontrollably into his chest. It was a long time before she finally stopped.

"And what about my role in all of this?" he asked, stroking her hair. "Even if you had done everything that you did on purpose, that still doesn't excuse my behavior." He shook his head in disgust. "I have no excuse for it. I was angry, more so when you ran from me, but I can't begin to explain what happened to me when I saw you with that—that—" he felt the anger building up inside of him again and he choked it down.

Jessie pulled away from him, probably shrinking away from what terrified her most. He looked down at her, expecting to see the well-earned fear, but instead, there was wonder in her eyes.

"You—you did that because—because you saw me with Mal?"

"Was that his name?" he grumbled.

She tilted her head as she looked at him now.

"You were _jealous_ of Mal?"

He gave a curt nod, the shame of his actions flooding him.

And then she laughed. His eyes shot to her face and she slapped her hand over her mouth, trying to stifle her inexplicable mirth but another giggle escaped.

"_Mal_? Seriously?" She started laughing in earnest. She laughed so hard that she bent in half. Obi Wan crossed his arms and tried to understand her intense reaction, only one thing made sense.

"You and he weren't involved?"

She shook her head and tried to catch her breath. It should have made him feel worse, it meant he'd attacked her for even less, but it made him feel oddly buoyant.

Jessie leaned back against a tree and brushed her hair away from her face. Her face was wet from tears of remorse and of laughter but at that moment she was joyful.

"It doesn't change what I did," Obi Wan insisted.

"No," she replied. "But I thought you did it because you hated me. Not because…."

And then it made sense. She had realized what he had never told her. He walked over to her and put both hands on either side of her. Her body went still as he put his face up close to hers.

"...because I went insane when I thought someone else had touched you?" She closed her eyes and shook her head. She was afraid to believe him. "Because I knew you couldn't possibly love me if you were with someone else so quickly after me?" She caught her breath. He trailed his lips along her jaw, up to her ear and whispered: "Because I believed you couldn't possibly love me even a fraction of the way I love you?"

She gasped out loud and he quickly found her lips with his own. He didn't want to give her any reason to doubt him. He wanted to infuse the truth of his words into her. She still shook her head in denial even as her arms wound around him and clung to him in desperation.

"I love you," he whispered over and over again as he kissed her lips, her neck, her face. "I'm sorry I never told you before."

He pushed his hands into her hair, buried his face in her neck.

"All I want is you," he whispered. "You and our family to be together."

He felt the fear streak through her like a lightening strike. Her body went stiff under his hands. He pulled away and looked at her face, mystified by what had changed. Her face was white and anguished.

"No," she whispered. "I can't."

He pulled away from her slowly, trying not to let the disappointment crush him but clearly it showed on his face. She reached out and pulled him close to her again.

"I want to," she said, "more then anything I want us to be a family." She closed her eyes. "But I won't risk it."

"Risk what?"

"If I hurt you, or Qui or Paddy…" she shook her head. "You know why I was created. I'm a weapon. And even if the Emperor is dead someone may still have my files, or someone could stumble across them and activate me. One day I could turn on you or my babies…." Her voice broke. "I didn't just bring them here to protect them from you. I brought them here to protect them from me."

"Ahhh," Obi Wan said, his relief evident, and she was startled by his reaction.

He pulled back and opened one of the pouches on his belt.

"Someone does have your files," he said, and he handed it to her. "You do."

She stared at the pad blankly.

"It's everything I could find," he said gently. "Palpatine did intend for you to be his weapon, but not in the way that you think."

She still didn't move, and only continued to stare at the pad.

"He had you created initially to find out if Leia was Anakin's offspring and nothing more. But after a few weeks he did make one modification." She flinched but he continued. "It was an experiment, he didn't know if it would work but if it did, you would be unimaginably useful to him."

She still hadn't moved and he began to worry.

"What did he do to me?"

"He designed you to absorb the abilities of those around you."

Her eyes flickered up to him.

"His hope was that you would take on the strongest characteristics of those you faced and use their own abilities against them."

"That's why I can hear Edward," she whispered. "And River's dreams and Starbuck's stubbornness….."

Obi Wan nodded.

"He intended to raise you himself. He wanted your unwavering loyalty because he knew you would be as dangerous to him as anyone else. So you see, there is no switch, no dormant order or code like there was with the clone army. You were to be raised as one of his loyal subjects from the very beginning."

Jess still stared at the pad and slowly shook her head.

"That's not the only alteration he made, was it?"

Obi Wan cringed this time.

"No. Unlike the clone army you can reproduce. From what I can tell, he intended—"

"He intended to raise me as some pseudo daughter and then have me bare his children." Her voice was toneless.

The idea left Obi Wan feeling sick so he could only imagine what it meant to her. So he shifted the conversation away from it.

"But you see, this means you don't have to run from the people you love any more, Jessie. You are not going to wake up one day and slit my throat because someone has activated you."

She lifted her eyes up to his again, a spark of hope in them.

"How do I know you didn't make this all up?"

He shook the pad in his hand.

"Look for yourself," he insisted. "And then ask Leia, or Luke or Han if I fabricated any of it."

"They're here?"

He nodded.

"How else could I have found you? They also helped me get all of the information. We had to negotiate with quite a few Empire-friendly contingencies to retrieve all it."

"Negotiate?"

"Mostly with lightsabers and blasters," he conceded.

She slowly reached out and took the pad from his hand. She leaned back against the tree and flipped through all the information he'd gathered. The sun was starting to set, the dim light filtering through the canopy of trees. Obi Wan watched as the speckles of light slowly crossed over her face as she read. He reached out to feel what she was feeling. Barely a glimmer of hope started to build up inside her but it was there.

Finally, she let her arm drop to her side, and the pad fell out of her hand. She looked stunned.

"So I'm not going to kill everyone I love?"

He smiled and put his hands on the sides of her face.

"No," he said.

"That's—that's good to know," she said, still looking shell shocked.

Obi Wan laughed and pulled her into his arms again. He felt awash with relief. He pulled away and looked into her eyes.

"Marry me," he said.

Her eyes lost the unfocused look in them and her eyebrows dipped in confusion.

"What?"

"I want you to marry me."

"No," she said, aghast.

Obi Wan's jaw dropped and then he groaned.

"You are really horrific on my ego," he said.

"You're only asking because of what Alice saw," she sighed. "Not everything she sees comes true."

"Alice saw us getting married?"

"She didn't tell you?"

He shook his head. Now he was confused.

"Why would that make her so happy?"

Jessie chuckled.

"We must let her plan it. Nothing makes Alice happier then planning a party." Then she shook her head and broke away from him. "But even if what she saw does come true it won't happen for years. Qui and Paddy and the new one were teenagers in her vision." Then she paused. "But you and I didn't look that much older…"

But then she stopped when she saw that Obi Wan had gone as still as a statue.

"The new one?" he said.

"Oh," Jessie mumbled, her hand going instinctively to her stomach. "I didn't tell you about him, did I?"

"Him?"

Jessie bit her lip.

"I saw him in the vision. He looks just like you," she said quietly.

He reached out slowly and put his hand over hers on her stomach.

"May I?" he asked in a strangely strangled voice.

Jessie nodded and he dropped to his knees in front of her. He carefully lifted her shirt and put his ear to her skin. There was nothing to hear or feel yet but he let out a long, beautiful sigh. Then he took her hands and tugged her down on her knees next to him.

"Marry me," he begged. "All the lights in the universe went out for me; all of them except for you. I can't imagine a life without you. I want to be with you and our children." He knew how much he was asking. How could she go from living in fear of him to living with him in so short a time? "You don't have to be scared…. "

She took his face in her hands.

"I am scared," she whispered. "But not of you."

She kissed him until he had to finally pull away just to catch his breath.

"So yes, then?" he asked.

She smiled and she let out a weepy laugh.

"Yes."

* * *

Author's Note: The next chapter will be the last. An epilogue really. Let me know what you think.


	27. Come What May

Five years later…..

Jessie stared out the third story window and looked down at all the activity going on below. It was like looking down at the pages of a delicately painted fairy tale. There were lattices dripping with flowers, canopies strung with twinkling lights. And then there were the guests; a wildly eclectic group that looked like they belonged in such a mythic place. There was no place in the universe more appropriate for her to marry the man who had not convinced her once, but twice, to marry him.

"Perfect?" Alice asked, coming up behind her and slipping her arm around her waist and her head on her shoulder.

"Perfect." Jessie agreed.

It was Alice's masterpiece. Unlike Bella and Edward's wedding Jess had not given her any restrictions _and_ an intergalactic guest list. So Alice spent the preceding weeks fluttering around the house in a frenzy muttering things about seating charts, cornering Han about the dietary considerations for a Wookie, and complaining how difficult it was to coordinate visitors from twelve different quadrants. Jasper admitted he'd never seen her happier.

"Paddy?" Rosalie said, behind them. "Padme?"

Jessie looked at her exasperated sister and grinned.

"Try Isabel," she suggested.

The beautiful, statuesque blond, who strangely looked more like her non-blood related aunt Rosalie, then either or her parents, turned away from the mirror where she'd been fixing her hair.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm not used to my new name. I mean my real name."

"Well you've been Isabel for the passed seventeen years," Jessie said with a sad smile. It pained her to think of all the years of her children's life that she'd missed.

"Do you know where your brothers are?" Rosalie continued.

"I think they were going out early with Han so he could show them how to use his blaster-thingy."

"Lovely," Rosalie grumbled. "Do they know their mother and father are getting married today?"

"They're already back," Alice said lightly, playing with Jessie's hair. "But can you go get Leia? She promised to show me how to do those fabulous braids."

* * *

The ceremony was majestic. With all of Jessie's sisters and her daughter as her attendants and her brothers and sons standing up for Obi Wan the wedding party itself was enormous. But as Jessica Amelia Thorton Cullen walked down the aisle on the arm of her father she could see nothing but her Jedi Knight waiting for her.

* * *

Isabel smiled at all of the guests that she passed as she walked through the house, learning to ignore the strange looks she was getting. It had begun when Jessie had introduced her as her daughter. No matter who is was, they all got the same look on their faces. They'd look at Isabel and try and assess how old she was and then she could see them doing the math in their heads.

"Time rift accident," Jessie would explain. Some people nodded in understanding, others just looked more confused.

She finally spotted her mother by the back doors talking to another woman who had shortly cropped hair. Her mother, who's silk dress dipped in a graceful arc down her back, had her back to her when she approached.

"I'm surprised you came," her mother was saying, in an oddly subdued tone. "Consorting with the enemy and all."

The other woman shrugged. "Helo and Sharon mentioned the open bar."

Her mother laughed.

"But I guess the fact that you could bring us here—through time—kinda suggests that you weren't lying to me after all."

"I keep telling people that," her mother replied.

"So," the other woman said slowly, "I guess--sorry, about blasting you out of the sky." She reached out and touched her mother's cheek in an oddly intimate gesture.

"You mean, for _trying_ to blast me out of the sky," her mother replied with a soft laugh.

"As I recall it was your boyfriend that saved your ass on that one."

"That's why I married him," her mother agreed.

Then the other woman's eyes flickered to where Isabel was standing. Her mother looked over and smiled at her.

"Padme," she said, and then caught herself, "Isabel, this is my friend Starbuck." Isabel watched Starbuck start calculating in her head and she sighed.

Then Tom Paris came up to them and took Jessie's hand.

"Dance with me?" he asked. "Your Jedi Master has stolen B'Elanna."

He gestured to the dance floor where the two were dancing.

"Did he flirt with her about carbon engines again?"

"He knows the way to her heart."

He spun her around and then pulled her away to the dance floor.

Isabel looked around and spotted her brothers sitting at an empty table. She sat down next to them. Both of them looked a little stunned. Since they'd been staying at the house for a week, meeting family Earthbound and otherwise, she found it strange that anything would surprise either of them any more.

"What?" she asked.

"I think that's Coldplay," Max mumbled, pointing to the wedding band. "I mean, _really_ Coldplay."

Isabel snickered.

"In case you haven't noticed, the Cullen's are richer then God."

"Do you think God is really rich?" Michael pondered. "I mean that seems unGodlike if you ask me."

"Maybe you should ask Castiel," Max suggested.

"The dude that married mom and dad?"

"He and grandpa have been having a philosophical discussion about God and the soul for about two hours now."

Michael glanced over his shoulder and laughed at the title "grandpa" when referring to the gentlemen sitting at the table behind them in his late twenties. But as they'd all learned, age was a strangely elastic thing in their family.

"I think I'll pass," Michael said, and turned back to the band. "So, do you think they're in on the whole, alien thing or do you think they just think they're playing a gig for a really weird, eccentric, sci-fi party?" Michael asked.

Before Isabel could answer, Jacob Black, their cousin Nessie's boyfriend, rushed passed them.

"You didn't' see me," he mumbled, as he dived into the darkness of the nearby trees.

Five seconds later Edward marched out of the house, his eyes scanning the crowd of revelers. He walked purposefully over to Izzie and her brothers.

"Have you seen Jacob?" he asked.

Isabel frowned. If she remembered right, and it was possible she didn't, having been flooded with a bountiful of personal information on her new family all at once, Edward could read minds. Couldn't he just pluck the memory out of her head? She was about to answer when she saw Bella and Alice, standing behind him shaking their heads and making a throat cutting gesture.

"Which one is Jacob?" she asked Max and Michael.

"The guy that was playing air guitar to Eye of the Tiger earlier?" Michael suggested.

"No, that was one of the Winchester brothers." Isabel replied, glancing up to see if Edward was buying it.

"The taller guy that you found so devastatingly handsome?" Max asked.

"That was the other Winchester brother."

Edward sighed loudly.

"Are you going to block everyone from me so that I never find him?" He asked and Isabel realized he wasn't talking to her but his wife, behind him.

"Just until you stop thinking about ripping apart your daughter's boyfriend," Bella said, walking up and touching his arm.

"You don't know what he was _thinking_…" Edward groaned.

"And I don't want to know," Bella sighed. "I know it has to be hard to be able to read what people are thinking about your teenage daughter…"

"She's six!" he announced. "And it wasn't so long ago he was having the same fantasies about _you_."

"Come on," Bella said, pulling him away, "you don't want to ruin your sister's wedding by spilling any blood. Think of the frenzy that would cause."

"I thought Nessie was seventeen," Michael said.

"She's physically and psychologically seventeen," Max replied. "But she was only born six years ago."

"Why is that again?"

"Who knows, just go with it."

"Right."

Isabel saw her father walking toward her. His gentle eyes and warm smile never failed to amaze her. Every time she saw him she thought that she would have recognized him as her father even when she didn't know who he was. Unlike Max and Michael she didn't look like either of her parents, but her father had smiled at her the day that they met and said that from what he remembered he thought she looked like his mother.

He put his hand out to her.

"Would you like to dance, darling?"

She smiled and took his hand.

They danced for a few moments before he spoke.

"This must be very overwhelming for you," Obi Wan said. "It's only been a few months since you've learned who you really are and now we've thrown you into some very odd circumstances."

Isabel thought about it for a moment.

"It actually seems kind of familiar," she admitted.

"Well you did spend the first few months of your life here."

She nodded and noted the sadness that she would see in both of her parents' eyes some times.

"This must be odd for you to," she said. "To leave three toddlers behind one day and to come home to three teenagers."

She saw the pain streak through his eyes and instantly regretting having said anything.

"I'm sorry…"

"No. It's alright. I will always regret having missed watching you grow up. I'll regret everything that we all missed but I can't complain, can I? You and your brothers are healthy and safe. How can I ask for more?"

He smiled and Isabel smiled back. He seemed to genuinely mean it. He seemed at peace with the fact that his three year old twins Padme and Qui-Gon and his two year old namesake Obi Wan disappeared one day only to be found again as near adults. He was the most even tempered, serene person she'd ever met.

Then the string of twinkling light bulbs above her head shattered with a tiny pop and rained glass down on her head. Confused, she looked up and then back at her father to see what he made of it and was startled to find he hadn't even noticed. His eyes were narrowed and staring across the dance floor. Isabel followed his gaze and saw that he was staring at her mother. She was dancing with a tall man with dark hair. Neither of them seemed quite comfortable.

Isabel frowned in confusion.

"Daddy?"

He looked back at his daughter and the menacing look had vanished.

"Yes?"

She gave her head a shake and glass sprinkled out of her hair.

"What--?" Then understanding dawned on his face. "Oh." He started dusting the shards off of her hair and he glanced nervously at Jessie. "Your mother didn't notice that did she?"

Isabel shook her head and glanced at the man that her mother was dancing with.

"Who is that?" She asked.

"No one of consequence," he assured her. "I thought Jessie took Reynold's off the guest list," he mumbled and Isabel realized that her uncles Jasper and Emmett were suddenly at their side, kicking the glass under tables and chairs.

"Alice invited him." Emmett replied.

"I thought Alice liked me," Obi Wan said.

"She thought it would be a good time to let bygones be bygones," Jasper said, than he paused. "We can make him vanish if you want."

"She couldn't get mad at you for that," Emmett agreed eagerly.

"And by vanish you mean return him to his rust bucket of a ship?"

"Suuure," Emmett said.

"Too late," Jasper mumbled as they watched Luke tap Jess on the shoulder and whisper in her ear. She turned her eyes over to Obi Wan and her brothers and they all started to look around in an all too obvious gesture of trying to look nonchalant. Jessie sighed and casually let go of her dance partner.

* * *

It was almost light by the time the party finally ended. Isabel was sagging in one of the chairs, marveling as Bella, Esme, Rosalie and Alice started to clean up, unhindered by a need for sleep.

"Must be nice, don't you think?"

Isabel looked up at Leia and smiled. It was still unnerving how much she and her mother looked alike. Even more so then twins, she thought. But like so many other things, she was sure there was more to the story then what they were telling her.

Isabel nodded and Leia sank down into the chair next to her.

"How are you doing with all this?" she asked.

"Fine," she replied.

"Then why are you so worried?"

Isabel blinked. She supposed she could deny it but it seemed futile to lie to someone who could sense your feelings.

"It's not the whole alien thing," she explained. "I've always known I wasn't from Earth." She shrugged. Having only learned her real origins a few months prior, it should have been a very strange day for her. But on the contrary, it seemed very comfortable. "It's something else…."

She let her eyes wander over to her mother, who was picking up some of the crystal plates off of one of the tables. It was hard to put into words. Leia's eyebrows dipped in concern.

"What?" she asked.

"They just seem so—different," she admitted. "I just don't picture them together."

Leia grinned.

"They've been through a lot in the last five years. And your father had to convince your mother not once, but twice, that they were meant to be. Then they lost you and your brothers…." She sighed. "If they could withstand all that, on top of everything that happened before….."

"Before?"

Leia smiled.

"Let's just say nothing has ever gone smoothly for your parents, but they still made it here."

Isabel nodded but she was still unconvinced. Leia kissed her forehead and stood up.

"I'm going to make sure Max and Michael haven't talked Luke into letting them use his lightsaber."

Isabel stood up, glanced at the lone, thin, girl dancing by herself even though there was no music, and decided not to ask. Instead she decided it was time for bed. She turned and walked toward the house when the sound of the quiet, beautiful voice made her stop.

"Never knew I could feel like this. Like I'd never seen the sky before. Want to vanish inside your kiss. Everyday I love you more and more."

She turned and saw that her father was now standing next to her mother. She had gone completely still except that the plate that she had balanced on her hand was trembling ever so slightly. Her father was running his fingers lightly up and down her spine and singing quietly into her ear.

"Listen to my heart can you hear it sing? Telling me to give you everything. Seasons may change—winter to spring. But I will love you until the end of time. Come what may. Come what may. I will love you, until my dying day."

A tear trickled down Jessie's cheek and she tilted her head and laid her head on his shoulder and Isabel saw what she didn't before. Her parents didn't just love one another, they adored each other. She let out a breath and smiled.

The End

* * *

Author's Note: Well that's it. Sorry this last chapter took so long. I was having a really hard time with it. I wanted to make the entire thing Isabel's point of view but was disappointed with that version so I tinkered with it. Hopefully you'll like it. Let me know.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed it. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I know the entire back story of what happened to Qui, Paddy and Obi and how they went from two to seventeen but I don't know if I'll write it or not. We'll see.


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